Eastbourne MP visits Gatwick Airport: ‘I am sure it will soon bounce back’

Caroline Ansell met with Ben Fordham, the airport’s operations manager, and Tim Norwood, planning and sustainability director on February 22.

She said, “I very much like to keep up to date with how Gatwick is progressing because it underpins Eastbourne’s local tourist economy for inbound visitors and language students.

“These visitors, who help secure one in four jobs in our town, have been much missed these last two years but hopefully they will soon start to come again.

“However, I don’t think I have come across a more potent symbol of what the country has gone through economically during covid than walking into the empty South Terminal.

“I know the airport is confident things will get back to normal now the pandemic is starting to fade but there are going to be challenges and setbacks.”

Mrs Ansell believes there will be changes with how people take holidays as although there is a ‘pent-up demand to get away’ many people are happy to holiday in the UK.

On the topic of decarbonisation targets she said, “The key to the future of aviation is to bring forward decarbonisation of the sector.

“I was pleased to be reassured that the aviation industry is looking at new fuel-efficient aircraft, and alternative fuel sources which can reduce carbon emissions significantly.

“Longer term new technologies, such as hydrogen, will be critical in decades to come. Gatwick is important to Eastbourne.

“It brings jobs, investment and prosperity to our town and the entire region and I am sure it will soon bounce back.”

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