Following on from the announcement of the North Terminal closure at London-Gatwick (LGW) airport, British Airways has decided to suspend all flights from the airport and will concentrate such operations remain from its dedicated Terminal 5 at London Heathrow.
London-Gatwick is the second-largest airport in the UK after the better known and massive Heathrow and the largest single-runway airport in the world. The airport has two terminals; North and South, the former being closed as from tomorrow, Wednesday 1st April. The much smaller, but centrally located London City airport has already closed. At the time of the announcement, it was unclear how long Gatwick would remain open, serving just a handful of flights from the South Terminal.
After the heavy user of Gatwick—EasyJet–suspended all its operations and grounded its entire fleet, British Airways has now announced that it will withdraw from Gatwick, but continue work on maintenance, towing and cleaning. The airline said the work is necessary in order to be ready to start up again quickly and efficiently when the coronavirus crisis is over. The majority of the airport’s 2 500 employees and 200 contractors will be laid off in the next few days. From tomorrow, the runway at Gatwick will be open only from 14h00 to 22h00 and it seems only a matter of time before the facility is completely closed to passengers.
