Gatwick Airport announces significant companywide restructure plans

Gatwick Airport is planing for a significant restructure across its business designed to further reduce operating and staff costs in light of the dramatic impact COVID-19 has had on its passenger and air traffic numbers. The proposed organization redesign will reshape the company so it is best placed to respond quickly to future growth.

The new proposals could result in the region of 600 job roles being removed from across the business, which is approximately 24% of the current number of employees.  The company will now enter into a formal consultation process with employees.

For August, usually one of the airport’s busiest months, passenger numbers are over 80% down when compared with the numbers of passengers Gatwick saw for this month in 2019.  The company took rapid action to protect the airport back in March to preserve as many jobs as it could by reducing costs, managing cash outflows, and securing a £300 million (US$400 million) bank loan.

Current traffic and passenger volumes are such that Gatwick is currently operating from just its North Terminal, so the airport is operating at around 20% of its capacity compared to this time last year and it still has over 75% of its staff on the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme, which is due to end in October.

Gatwick is the U.K.’s second-largest airport and flies a range of both short- and long-haul point-to-point services. The airport is a vital element of the U.K.’s national infrastructure and is also a major driver for both regional and national economies.