London Gatwick is London's second busiest airport (after Heathrow) and although built its reputation in the 1970s as a holiday charter airport, it has grown to cater to a large number of scheduled flights to many worldwide destinations as far flung as Asia and South America nowadays.
Unfortunately, British Airways is in the process of reducing its hub operations at Gatwick (owing to the recent slump in air travel) but still remains one of the largest operators - utilising its own dedicated North Terminal as its 'Gatwick EuroHub'. Other major carriers at LGW, include EasyJet (which has increased services following BA's move as mentioned), Virgin Atlantic and FlyBE.
Internationally, Aer Lingus along with many other European carriers also operate into Gatwick, on top of their Heathrow services. Flying in from further afield, Delta Airlines recently celebrated 25 years of its Gatwick operations and is also joined on the ramp here by its competitors, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and US Airways. A further boost to Gatwick recently was Emirates' recent launch of its third daily service to the Gulf, offering even more connections at Dubai to the Far East and Australia.
If you are arriving from London Heathrow - there are regular coach services to Brighton Coach Station from Terminals 1,2,3 and 4. The coach service from London Stansted, however does take the long route via Heathrow to the west of London so it may be quicker to hop on the Stansted Express to London Liverpool St. before connecting to another train at London Bridge or London Victoria for Brighton - all in all - a rather lengthy journey.
Brighton and Hove also lie directly on the South Coast line which has services running from Southampton to the West and Eastbourne to the East.
Other train stations in the area include, Portslade, Aldrington (both west of Hove) and Preston Park, which lies north of Brighton.
Apart from the main route north to London, Brighton and Hove Buses also operate regional routes to Newhaven, Eastbourne, Lewes and Worthing.