Gatwick future under threat as Virgin Atlantic ends operations

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Gatwick future under threat as Virgin Atlantic ends operations and axes 3,000 jobs

By Matt Oliver For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Gatwick Airport is facing a crisis after Virgin Atlantic ended its operations there.

The airline is axing 3,000 jobs and will now only fly from rivals Heathrow and Manchester.

It blamed the ‘severe impact’ of the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted travel restrictions and forced airlines to ground fleets, and it comes just days after British Airways said it could also leave.

Gatwick departure: Virgin Atlantic is axing 3,000 jobs and will now only fly from rivals Heathrow and Manchester

Experts and unions said the moves threaten the airport’s future and its status as the main challenger to Heathrow, which has been a rival in debates about where new UK air capacity should be.

Gatwick insisted it remained in a ‘strong position’ and that it would press ahead with plans to convert its emergency runway into a second, fully-functioning one. But Alex Macheras, an independent aviation analyst, said the exit was a disaster for the airport.

Budget pair suffering 

 Budget carriers have laid bare the drop in air travel after airlines grounded fleets and governments tried to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Ryanair carried just 40,000 people in April – down 99.6 per cent on 13.5m in April 2019. Hungarian airline Wizz Air flew 78,389 people last month, down 97.6 per cent from 3.28m last year.

Meanwhile, aviation group Air Partner enjoyed a record April as it repatriated people and flew personal protective equipment into the UK. 

Unaudited accounts for the three months to April show a £6million underlying pre-tax profit. 

He said: ‘A cull of two of its most important airlines would throw Gatwick back decades and potentially wipe out the need for a second runway.’

Last week, BA said there was ‘no certainty as to when or if services can or will return’.

Virgin Atlantic said it hoped to return to Gatwick if its business rebounded enough after the crisis.

But pilots’ union Balpa said it was another terrible blow for the industry. Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said she had ‘grave concerns about the impact on Gatwick’. 

An airport spokesman said: ‘This will be devastating for staff and many local businesses. We will continue to work with Virgin to get them flying again from Gatwick.

‘We remain very optimistic about the long-term prospects and our resilience as a business, and having remained open through this pandemic we are in a strong position to extend operations quickly to meet demand.’

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