Coronavirus: Gatwick chief makes appeal to BA, Virgin

Airport boss Stewart Wingate said the decisions of both airlines would have an “enormous” impact on Gatwick and the people of Crawley.

A British Airways memo leaked on April 30 hinted the carrier may not run its Gatwick flights once the coronavirus pandemic passes.

Then just a week later Virgin Atlantic announced it would end its operations at the airport.

Speaking to The Argus yesterday, Mr Wingate said he was hopeful British Airways would resume services to and from Gatwick and anticipated an decision in the coming weeks.

Mr Wingate said he was hopeful British Airways would resume flights at Gatwick

But he urged Virgin Atlantic to sell its slots at the airport to other airlines if it decides not to return.

“We would like to see Virgin return. It would be sad if they did not as Gatwick is where the Virgin Atlantic story started,” he said.

“If they’re not going to fly this year, we’d like them to sell their flying slots to other carriers who can fly this year.

“We’ve had a number of low-cost European airlines who have been interested in working with us.”

The Gatwick boss also urged the Government to lift quarantine rules with EU countries with low infection rates.

Currently all passengers flying into the UK will have to self-isolate at home for two weeks, something Mr Wingate fears will hamper airlines’ recoveries.

Mr Wingate said he was worried measures requiring all passengers arriving in the UK to self-isolate for two weeks would harm the aviation industry's recovery

“We want to persuade the Government to open up an air bridge with the EU so passengers can travel freely from Gatwick to countries where the virus is under control and infection rates are lower than our own, not having to go through quarantine,” he said.

“Then we’d look at trying to open up long-haul routes to countries in a similar position.”

Despite the “choppy waters” of the short-term, Mr Wingate said he was “fully confident” in the airport’s future.

“Of the 3,300 employees we have at the airport, 2,700 of those have been furloughed and the majority of them will most likely be furloughed until October,” he said.

“At the earliest opportunity we will try and get them back to the workplace. A small number will be taken off furlough on Monday.”

Mr Wingate said he was fully confident in Gatwick's future

The airport cut 200 jobs and announced voluntary severance for another 340 in April.

Mr Wingate still expects passenger numbers to recover to 2019 levels in three to four years.

And he insisted plans to bring Gatwick’s backup runway into routine use for departures in 2026 are still on target. A public consultation on the proposal will take place next year.

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