The table illustrates information about how many tourists used three major British airports in a 5-year period from 1998 to 2003.
Overall, it can be seen that all the airports experienced upward trends over the period. Another interesting point is that Gatwick, which was the most popular airport in 1998, still attracted the most visitors at the end of the period in 2003.
Turning to details, if we look at Heathrow, the airport started at 27.2 million in 1998, followed by a significant increase which peaked at 48.2 million. At this point, it surpassed Gatwick, which was the most popular. Having experienced a considerable decrease to 33.2 million in 2002, the number rocketed to 45.6 million in 2003.
As regards Gatwick, the number of travellers who visited there grew gradually from 36.5 million in 1998 to 69.3 million in 2003. With respect to Stansted, the figure climbed steadily from 17.3 million in 1998 to 39.9 million in 2000, after which it stayed constant at 43.3 million from 2001 to 2003.
