Aerospace

Gatwick introduces COVID-19 protective measures

Posted 11 June 2020

Gatwick has introduced a range of measures to protect the wellbeing and safety of both passengers and staff – with those traveling through the airport encouraged to check new guidance before they leave home – as the airport prepares to reopen its North Terminal on 15th June and its airlines start scaling up their flying programmes.

Images courtesy Gatwick

The wellbeing and safety of passengers and staff remains Gatwick’s top priority and extensive measures in place throughout the airport to “protect each other” include:

Passengers required to wear a face covering within the airport with Gatwick staff mandated to wear face coverings in passenger-facing areas of the terminals. Face mask vending machines will also be made available at the airport;
Encouraging good hand hygiene with ample, well signposted hand washing facilities and numerous hand sanitising stations - including touch-free models - throughout;
Frequent, enhanced deep cleaning of common-use surfaces throughout the airport with dedicated teams visible to respond to any passenger concerns on cleanliness;
Social distancing procedures in place at check in, security, gate rooms, seating in departure halls and in restaurants, bars and shops;
Installation of Perspex screens throughout the terminals, including check in desks, and gate rooms.

In addition to passenger guidance online – available on Gatwick’s website and passenger app – digital and physical signage advising passengers of the new health measures is displayed throughout the airport and a new film informs passengers of the new guidance and what to expect when travelling through the airport.

Gatwick’s airlines have also introduced a range of health measures so that everyone can start to enjoy the benefits of international travel again and the airport’s North Terminal will re-open, following the announcement in March it was to temporarily close due to the severe impact COVID-19 had on the number flights.

Gatwick will now also increase its operating hours to 0600-22.00 and easyJet has announced that it is restarting flights from the North Terminal on 15 June alongside Wizz Air, Ryanair, Belavia, Vueling and Blue Island.

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive, Gatwick Airport, said: “Having remained open throughout this pandemic the wellbeing and safety of our passengers and everyone that works at the airport remains our top priority. We have introduced a range of new social distancing and hygiene solutions to help this happen so we can all help protect each other when travelling through the airport. We want people to understand that airports and air travel is a safe environment in this COVID-19 travelling world.

“We are pleased to be in a position to re-open the North Terminal and we look forward to welcoming back easyJet as they restart flights alongside our other airlines. The recent Government announcement regarding the 14-day quarantine period for passengers arriving into the UK is, in our opinion, already having an impact on the start of air travel recovery. We accept the Government’s absolute priority is the protection of public health, but we continue to push for regular, country by country reviews of quarantine regulations, based on medical evidence.”