How mothballed Gatwick South Terminal was reopened after 2 years

The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport is set to reopen after being mothballed for nearly two years.

English YouTuber Tom Scott reported on the reopening of the South Terminal in a video titled ‘Reopening an airport terminal is harder than you might think’, which was released yesterday.

Pete Coombes, Gatwick Airport’s Senior Passenger Operations Manager, said: “In March 2020 when the pandemic struck, we obviously realised there was going to be a significant downturn in traffic so we took the decision to close one of our terminals

“Gatwick Airport would generally see upwards of 900 movements off of our runway on a bust summer day.

“During the height of the pandemic we were down to two or three flights a day with certainly less than 500 passengers on certain days.”

Coombes went on to explain that the airport’s mechanical parts such as baggage belts and jetbridges needed to be run, tested and maintained regularly.

In order to reduce costs, they had to close the terminal, however, they did not completely get rid of their financial burden. 

Coombes said: “There’s a number of core services we’ve had to keep running. We had to do regular maintenance and safety checks on all of our passenger boarding bridges and airfield equipment, water systems, lighting systems, power, fire, life safety systems - everything that's there to look after the people and keep everyone safe.

“Things like heating and lighting in various areas and power for escalators and lifts - they were all shut down mainly to save money during the crisis. We had to make cuts wherever possible.”

Despite being out of use for passengers, the airport came up with other inventive ways to make use of their facilities.

“We’ve been taking the opportunity to use the space for filming,” says Coombes, “film companies have been coming in and doing various shows around the airport, some of which will be airing in the next few weeks.”

A significant number of the airport’s workforce has been furloughed during this period. From 1 October they been bringing people back in to get the terminal up and running in time for its opening date. 

Coombes said: “We are reopening 85% of it straight away”.

The first flight from the South Terminal is scheduled to leave this coming Sunday in the early hours of the morning, with passengers going through the doors at 3am.

Passengers will be able to choose from 30 long-haul destinations this summer, as well as enjoying Gatwick’s latest additions - Norse Atlantic and Scoot.