‘Government must act on aviation to get Crawley people back to work’

That’s the message that’s gone out today from Gatwick Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate.

The airport itself has almost halved its workforce - many living in and around Crawley - since the pandemic struck last year.

More still have lost jobs with airlines and airport service companies.

Before the pandemic, Gatwick employed 3,300 people but now has just 1,700 with a ‘significant number’ still on furlough - due to end next month.

As well as calling on the Government to ease Covid rules on travellers, airport bosses are also seeking an extension of the furlough scheme into the winter for aviation workers.

“We want to protect as many jobs as we can,” Stewart Wingate said today as Gatwick revealed it made a loss of £244.6 million in the first six months of this year.

“We want to see passenger numbers recover through travel restrictions being eased.”

He said officials had been working “incredibly hard to make sure that the Goverment supports the ease of travel restrictions for people to want to travel.”

He said many European countries and the US had fewer restrictions meaning more people were travelling by air - around 50-60 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers, compared with a UK figure of around 15 per cent.

And, he said, allowing more people to fly in the UK “would get the people of Crawley back to work. We really do need the Government to take action.”

Gatwick announces new cash losses