Image source, Reuters

According to Tourism South East, which promotes tourism businesses and destinations in the south-east of England, more people have opted to stay local in recent years.

A summer of sport, warm British weather and instability in parts of the word have influenced some to have a staycation, chief executive Fran Downton told BBC Radio Sussex.

"Since Covid, we've also seen people's preference to make decisions on their holidays has got later and later," she says. "So I think that has also helped with people saying 'actually I'm going to stay local'."

Downton adds: "People are really wanting to get out there and explore what they've got and what's local to them."

Image source, Reuters

LGW’s busiest days of the summer are expected to be the first, second and third Sundays of August, according to the airport.

About 900 flights are scheduled on the peak dates.

Charlotte, from Southampton, and her daughters had been due to jet off for a week-long holiday this morning.

"The M3 was shut so we had to go all the way through Basingstoke and all that way around," she says.

That means they've missed their flight.

But they've managed to buy new flights - with their father on the phone organising logistics as they speak to the BBC - so they will still be heading off to Lanzarote this afternoon.

Image source, Mohammed Numaan Azam

According to Mohammed Numaan Azam, a consultant at Woking Travel Centre, many holidaymakers "are inquiring but they're a bit scared to give the go ahead" due to uncertainty in the Middle East and high prices.

"More and more people are staying closer to home, they're travelling to Europe - Spain, Italy, France - because they simply can't afford to travel as far," he says.

"We also know some of our regulars who go every year are now saying they're travelling within the UK this year because they simply can't afford the cost of going abroad."

But, he says, there are bargains to be found during gaps in the conflict between the US and Iran.

"If there's a ceasefire some people do take a quick bargain because the hotels are empty and you can get a very cheap holiday," Azam says.

We're pausing our live stream of the runway at Gatwick Airport, but will be back with more takeoffs and landings later on.

Image source, PA Media

Airlines have been reporting challenges linked to conflict in the Middle East.

The price of fuelling a plane has jumped since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.

Ryanair said it expects summer fares to be slightly lower than last year as it tries to improve demand against "consumer hesitancy" for air travel, after announcing a fall in its profits.

According to the airport, 42.8 million passengers passed through Gatwick in 2025.

But the airfield started off life much smaller in the 1930s - and its original terminal remains preserved.

Listen to the Secret Sussex episode all about Gatwick's original circular art deco terminal, which still stands as a preserved piece of the airport's 90-year history.

This is the first summer peak period since the European Union's new border Entry/Exit System (EES) came in.

The new rules require UK travellers to register fingerprints and a photo alongside a passport scan, replacing the manual stamping of passports.

There have been warnings of the potential for long queues at European airports because of the new system.

You can find out more about the impact of EES in this explainer.

The BBC has secured exclusive behind-the-scenes access at Gatwick Airport to see how teams are preparing to get holidaymakers away for the summer.

Throughout the day we will hear from the people in charge of:

• Baggage handling
• Air traffic control
• Airfield operations

Medina and her family, from East Croydon, are headed to the Canary Islands today.

"It's much needed time from work, and just a break. We're looking forward to it - some bonding time," Medina says.

"We're feeling excited, tummies fluttering, ecstatic to just enjoy our holiday and have some time on the beach."

Medina and her 10-year-old daughter, Kaci, arrived more than four and a half hours before their flight departs.

"We're super early, we like to be ahead of time," Medina says.

Gatwick's busy summers and plans for further expansions are not popular with everyone.

Campaigners have launched a legal challenge against the proposal to bring a second runway into consistent use.

“I don’t think Gatwick really realises the impact it has,” says Sally Pavey, who chairs the Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions group.

“It’s not just the aircraft noise, it’s the impact of all these people going to the airport to fly out of the UK to spend money overseas.”

Peter Barclay of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign is part of the legal challenge.

“The amount of pollution being produced is very concerning," he said. “And there is of course a worldwide problem of the impact of climate change, and that is significant.”

The Department for Transport and the airport's owner are defending the legal challenge.

Gatwick Airport and the government are planning to bring a second runway into use to expand the airport's capacity.

The privately-financed project involves moving the current emergency runway 39ft (12m) north to safely bring it into regular use, as well as other developments such as terminal extensions.

The scheme is expected to increase Gatwick's capacity from about 280,000 flights a year to 389,000 by the late 2030s.

But the plan has been controversial and is facing a legal challenge. You can read more here.

Let us know your summer plans. Have you managed to find a good deal or had to change your plans due to travel uncertainty?

Are you avoiding the airport and staying in the UK this year?

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Gatwick Airport is the UK's second busiest airport by passenger numbers.

• 63 airlines serve a total of 230 destinations from the airport
• The site near Crawley became an aerodrome in the 1930s but the modern airport opened in 1958
• The airport's main runway is 10,879ft (3,316m) long
• It has space to park 186 planes
• There are 245 check-in desks, 123 self-service check-ins and 119 self-service bag drops across the North and South terminals

Source: Gatwick Airport, CAA

Image source, Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the BBC going behind the scenes at Gatwick Airport as the summer getaway begins.

We'll be speaking to those responsible for airfield operations, along with bosses about long-term plans for the aiport and campaigners who are opposing proposals to expand Gatwick.

We also have a live stream of planes taking off from the airport.