 Outside of London and the South East , the use of regional airports has increased dramatically in recent years , with the amount of air traffic using these facilities doubling in the period 1995 to 2005 . To illustrate this growth , in the five years from 2001 passenger numbers at the regional airports of Exeter International Airport , Bristol International Airport , and Newcastle Airport increased by 191 per cent , 113 per cent , and 60 per cent respectively . In the same period the largest airports experienced some of the slowest growth , with Heathrow passenger numbers increasing by 11 per cent , and those of Gatwick increasing by less than 10 per cent . 
