Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports report record-breaking passenger numbers for 2014, intensifying the rivalry between them for bagging the promised third runway.
Heathrow coped with 73.4 million travellers in the year, a 1.4% increase over 2013.
Gatwick had 38.1 million passengers, a jump of 7.6%.
Both say the increases lend weight to their cases. Each is hoping to win.
Stansted, which is not in the competition, has reported a 12% rise in passenger numbers to 19.9 million last year.
The Airports Commission will make a recommendation this summer on where the new runway to serve the South East will be. It has warned that Britain could be marginalised if the Government does not take a decision on the runway site.
Heathrow has two runways while Gatwick has just one.
Gatwick says it has a more diverse range of flights, including scheduled, charter and budget, as well as a greater variety of short and long-haul destination.
Heathrow says as Britain’s busiest airport it should have a third runway, claiming that many long-haul destinations are viable only from a hub airport like Heathrow.
Expanding Heathrow would enable it to add direct flights to the world’s growing cities, increasing exports.
The Commission believes a second runway at Gatwick would be the cheaper of the two, costing £9.3bn plus a further £787m from the taxpayer to improve road and rail access.
The price for building a third runway at Heathrow would be £18.6bn, and would also need £5.7bn from the taxpayer to improve surface access.
