The table illustrates how many travellers used three large British airports from 1998 to 2003.
Overall, there were increases in the numbers of visitors to these airports, with Stansted witnessing the most significant rise. In addition, Gatwick generally had the highest figures during the period examined, except for the year 2000 when Heathrow was the most commonly-visited.
Regarding Gatwick with continuous growth, visitor numbers started at 36.5 million, after which it experienced a gradual rise to end the period at 69.3 million, almost doubling the initial figure.
As for categories with more complicated trends, 27.2 million people used Heathrow airport in 1998, with a subsequent remarkable increase to 45.6 million at the end of the period, despite a considerable drop from 48.2 million in 2000 to 33.2 million in 2002. Meanwhile, Stansted underwent consistent growth from 17.3 to 43.3 million within the first 4 years before leveling off from 2001 onwards.
