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The war between Britain's two leading airlines is intensifying - with Gatwick at the centre of hostilities between British Airways and easyJet. Five years ago easyJet had no presence at all at the Sussex airport - this week it announced a major expansion of routes that will provide its passengers at Gatwick with a wider choice of destinations than from any other airport.

The growth, says the airline, is aimed squarely at "targeting British Airways' business passengers". In the past year, BA has withdrawn from three routes that easyJet now flies.

The new flights include three services a day to Glasgow, previously the preserve of BA, starting on 2 October. The airline also plans to increase flights to Milan and Amsterdam to five a day, with additional services to Madrid, Cologne, Athens and Berlin. All of these are prime business routes.

"It's not surprising that BA's passengers are flocking to easyJet in record numbers," says easyJet's chief executive, Andy Harrison.

British Airways rebutted the attack by saying "Our business passengers, unlike easyJet's, do not need to pay for lounge access, do not have to pay for speedy boarding [easyJet charges £5 for this privilege] because they have pre-allocated seats, and also receive free food and drinks on the flight. On top of that, the Executive Club offers our business travellers excellent benefits for travelling with the airline."

Gatwick was previously described as "the hub without the hubbub" by BA. For some years up to 2001, it operated a large number of connecting services at the North Terminal, aimed at attracting business travellers from around Europe and the world.

In a subsequent restructuring, many long-haul services were scrapped or moved to Heathrow. But in the last 12 months, the airline has launched nine new routes from Gatwick, to destinations as diverse as Rekyjavik, Tirana and Riga.

From next April, GB Airways - which serves a range of destinations from Gatwick on behalf of BA - will withdraw from the Marrakech route. Next month, easyJet starts flying the same route, and Ryanair has announced plans to begin services to Morocco from the UK.