Gatwick Airport ‘could take four years’ to fully recover from coronavirus crisis

A report out today shows that business was growing at the airport - with just under 37 million passengers using it - in the nine-month period up until December 2019.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the aviation industry hard with Gatwick bosses now saying that the airport is unlikely to see the same level of passengers for between 36 and 48 months after the virus outbreak ends.

Gatwick Airport chief executive officer Stewart Wingate said: “My message is one of hope. We will work really hard to get us through this crisis.”

He said the world had ‘changed dramatically’ since December and “Gatwick has taken decisive action to ensure that it remains in a strong position to recover from the dramatic fall in passenger numbers and the wider impacts of Covid-19.”

Actions taken include furloughing 90 per cent of eligible airport staff, cutting a number of other jobs, and all staff taking salary reductions.

The airport’s north terminal has been shut with limited flights operating daily from the south terminal between 2pm-10pm.

Gatwick’s capital investment programme has been suspended ‘for the foreseeable future’ and the airport has taken out a £300 million loan from a consortium of banks.

However, it says, it still plans to go ahead with bringing the airport’s current emergency runway into full-time use.

The airport maintains its actions will ensure a ‘quick recovery’ from the crisis.

Stewart Wingate said: “The Covid-19 crisis has been unprecedented and our priority has been, and continues to be, maintaining the health and safety of our passengers and employees.

“We also have a resilient business and by taking steps to reduce costs, we have protected jobs and expect to recover from this crisis.

“One measure we took to reduce costs was to defer spending on our capital investment programme to secure improved resilience, however for future growth we still expect to progress many of these projects including our plans to bring the existing Northern (stand-by) runway into routine use to offer more travel choice for passengers and new jobs for Gatwick and the wider region.

“Of course, any growth must be sustainable, and we also remain focused on our ongoing efforts to reduce the airport’s impact on the environment.

“I’m pleased to say that we continue to make significant progress in this area, and we are committed to reducing our environmental impact even further in the years ahead.”

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