Gatwick hopes for a better 2022 – it lost £370.6 million in 2021 and £465.5 million in 2020
Gatwick lost just over £1m per day on average – £370.6 million – during 2021. In 2020 it lost about £1.275m per day – about £465.5 million. It had about 10.2 million passengers in 2020, and about 6.3 million in 2021 (mainly in the summer months), compared to 46.6 million in 2019. EasyJet has taken up more Gatwick take-off and landing slots. Cost savings were achieved by moving all airlines and travellers to the smaller North Terminal during months with the tightest Covid travel restrictions. The airport will reopen its South Terminal on March 27 as airlines ramp up their schedules with more passengers. British Airways is restarting its short-haul programme with 18 aircraft on 35 routes. Wizz Air and Vueling are setting up smaller bases. The biggest airline at Gatwick, easyJet, will provide even more capacity than before the coronavirus pandemic, with 79 aircraft covering 120 routes. The airport’s CEO Stewart Wingate, hoped 2022 would see a big rise in passengers “providing bureaucracy is reduced.”
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Gatwick Airport hoping for ‘strong summer’ following 2021 losses of £370 million
ITV
9 March 2022
Gatwick Airport says it is hoping for a “strong summer” after it reported an annual loss of £370.6 million in 2021.
The airport’s annual results show the figure has fallen from £465.5 million in losses in 2020, despite a 38.5% reduction in total annual passengers.
Passenger numbers hit 6.3 million for the year, compared to 10.2 million previously, due to lockdowns and widespread international travel restrictions.
Passenger numbers exceeded 1 million in August, September, October and December as passenger confidence grew, which the airport says helped to reduce its 2021 losses.
Gatwick called these figures an “encouraging end to 2021” despite “continually changing travel restrictions and the emergence of the Omicron variant”.
EasyJet has taken up more take-off and landing slots from Gatwick
Gatwick’s annual losses fell in 2021, despite a reduction in passengers.
The airport announced last month that it will reopen its South Terminal on March 27 to meet demand, as airlines ramp up their schedules.
It says it was able to offset the impact of lower passenger numbers by significantly reducing operating costs in 2020.
This includes moving all air traffic and passengers to the North Terminal.
Gatwick says increases in short-haul flying schedules from the airport “indicate a strong 2022 summer season”.
It added that it is also optimistic following a “positive Government decision on airport slot regulations” and the relaxation of travel and testing restrictions.
A 12-week public consultation took place last year about proposals to bring the airport’s existing northern runway into routine use, alongside its main runway, by summer 2029 for departing aircraft.
Gatwick CEO, Stewart Wingate, has urged the government to make 2022 the year when all travel restrictions are removed, including scrapping Passenger Locator Forms.
He said: “As it was for many airports, 2021 was a difficult year for Gatwick but, despite constantly changing travel restrictions and the emerging Omicron variant, we managed to end the year strongly and reduced our losses compared to the previous year.”
“Today, we find ourselves in a very different position. Major announcements from our airlines about significantly increased flying schedules, and from Government on airport slot regulations and the relaxation of travel restrictions, mean we are now looking forward to a strong summer.”
“We’re currently focused on reopening our South Terminal to ensure we can meet this expected strong demand and we are looking forward to welcoming back passengers in increasingly larger numbers.”
“The rebounding of international connectivity toward pre-pandemic levels will boost job and business opportunities, which is great news for many in our local communities and beyond.
“However, fully restoring consumer confidence will take time and I urge Government to make 2022 the year when all travel restrictions are removed completely, including the unpopular passenger locator form.”
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GATWICK LOST £1M PER DAY IN 2021 – BUT SEES STRONG SUMMER AHEAD IF PLF (Passenger Locator Form) GOES
By Simon Calder, The Independent
9.3.2022
The UK’s second-biggest airport, London Gatwick, lost just over £1m per day on average during 2021. Yet that was an improvement on the £1.275m daily loss in 2020, even though Gatwick handled far fewer passengers.
Cost savings were achieved by moving all airlines and travellers to the smaller North Terminal.
UK lockdowns and widespread international travel restrictions led to a 38 per cent slump in passenger numbers at Gatwick in 2021: 6.3 million passengers for the year, compared with 10.2 million previously.
The corresponding figure in 2019 was 46.6 million, making Gatwick by far the busiest single-runway airport in the world. By 2021, the numbers had fallen by 84%.
Gatwick’s South Terminal will reopen on 27 March, with British Airways restarting its short-haul programme with 18 aircraft on 35 routes. Wizz Air and Vueling are setting up smaller bases.
The biggest airline at the Sussex airport, easyJet, will provide even more capacity than before the coronavirus pandemic, with 79 aircraft covering 120 routes.
Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, expressed optimism about the year ahead – providing bureaucracy is reduced.
“As it was for many airports, 2021 was a difficult year for Gatwick but, despite constantly changing travel restrictions and the emerging Omicron variant, we managed to end the year strongly and reduced our losses compared to the previous year,” he said.
“We are looking forward to welcoming back passengers in increasingly larger numbers.
“However, fully restoring consumer confidence will take time and I urge government to make 2022 the year when all travel restrictions are removed completely, including the unpopular passenger locator form.”
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See earlier:
Gatwick in talks with lenders, after losing another £245 million in the first half of 2021
Gatwick says it made a loss of £245m in the first half of 2021, as passenger numbers collapsed to 569,000. It expects to have 9 million passengers by December, but that is lower than the 10 million in 2020. In 2019 it had 46.5 million. The airport is now in talks with its lenders to ease the terms of its loans, due to the losses. It lost £465.5 million in 2020. Due to its weak finances and continuing low demand for air travel, Gatwick has asked its lenders to agree to short-term waivers on its loans to avoid it defaulting. This was also done last year, and the same thing happened at Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic, one of Gatwick’s longest-standing airline customers, has ceased its operations at Gatwick for now, while British Airways has moved all of its short-haul flights to Heathrow, due to the low level of demand. However, BA said it will continue with at least long-haul operations from Gatwick. The airport said it had 779m of liquidity at the end of June, which it hopes would last it for the next 12 months, with no more staff being made redundant. It has cancelled or deferred more than £570m of capital spending that had been planned for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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