Gatwick Airport to safeguard the ‘final resilience’

Thursday, March 19, 2020

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Gatwick Airport has unveiled a series of steps designed to safeguard the ‘final resilience’ of the business. It is expected the plans will significantly reduce costs.

On the global aviation industry the spreas of Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact. It has been reported that the airlines at Gatwick like British Airwyas, Norwegian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and TUI has cut down on the levels of traffic.

Over the next two months there have also been substantial cuts in planned capacity.

Between midnight and 5:30 from Tuesday, Gatwick  will close to flights except for emergency landings and close two o=f its six piers.

The airport is deferring the spending on its investment programme in terms of capital expenditure for the forseeable future.

For the current financial year Stewart Wingate, Gatwick chief executive, and his executive team will take a 20 per cent salary cut and waive any bonuses.

About 200 staff employed on temporary fixed-term contracts and contractors of Gatwick has been terminated.

Wingate said that Gatwick is a resilient business, but the world has changed dramatically in recent weeks and they have been forced to take rapid, decisive action to ensure that the airport is in a strong position to recover from a significant fall in passenger numbers.

They regret making the difficult decision to reduce their staff numbers and would like to thank everyone for the contribution they made to the business.

In the short-to medium-term significantly reduced passenger numbers are likely to be sustained and people should remain prepapred for other serious measures.

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