Gatwick airport expects up to five-year wait for air travel demand to recover
Gatwick Airport has said demand for air travel might not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025. The West Sussex airport announced a 61.3% fall in revenue and a £321 million loss during the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2019. Earnings before tax and interest plummeted by 98.3%.
Gatwick Airport announced recently that it plans to cut around 600 jobs due to the impact of the crisis, representing nearly a quarter of its workforce.
Chief executive Stewart Wingate revealed that despite the collapse in demand for air travel, the airport is pressing ahead with plans to use its emergency runway for routine flights. It is seeking permission to bring the airstrip into full passenger use.
Gatwick lost out to Heathrow in a bid to obtain Government approval to build an additional runway in October 2016, amid a need for more airport capacity in the South East.