27 March, 2020

London Gatwick Airport to temporarily close its North Terminal and limit scheduled flights to between 1400 and 2200 hours.

The UK's second busiest airport, London Gatwick has confirmed today that it will close one of its two terminals from the start of next month due to a drop in demand because of the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. 

The airport will process all flights in the South Terminal and to limit scheduled flights on its runway to between 1400 and 2200 each day with effect from 1 April 2020. However, the airport advises that the runway will remain open for emergency landings and diversions only outside these hours.

The temporary closure of the North Terminal will last a minimum of one month, but the situation will be kept under regular review.  A decision taken on reopening the North Terminal when airline traffic increases and Government public health advice – including on social distancing – is relaxed.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive, Gatwick Airport, said: “Gatwick is a resilient but also responsible business and during these extraordinary times we need to take unprecedented measures to protect the health and wellbeing of our staff and passengers", he also thanked employees, "I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my staff for their continuing hard work through this difficult time and to reassure them that we are taking these difficult decisions now so that we are in a position to recover quickly."  



The Sussex airport already announced that it would also terminate the employment of 200 staff employed on temporary fixed-term contracts and contractors, in order to protect the business. The airport's management is consulting with employees on further measures to reduce near term operating costs.








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