Gatwick announces huge jobs plan to bounce back from pandemic
It's looking to generate up to 50,000 across the South East by 2028
Gatwick Airport has announced plans to generate 50,000 jobs across Sussex, Surrey and Kent by 2028.
The airport is looking to make a strong recovery following the pandemic, which has had a huge impact on the aviation sector and businesses linked to it.
Last year, passenger numbers fell by 78% at the West Sussex site due to the effects of restrictions on national and international air travel, which led to the airport closing its South Terminal for much of 2020.
10.2 million passengers passed through the gates in 2020, compared to over 46 million in 2019.
The airport was forced to make some 40% of its staff redundant due to the collapse in air travel, while easyJet and Norwegian also announced job cuts and Virgin Atlantic chose to halt its operations from the site.
A new report by economics consultants Lichfields says that a revived Gatwick would support the region’s economic diversification by making the area attractive to new and emerging industrial clusters, including digital, advanced manufacturing and green technologies.
The airport has committed to the following aims:
- To grow its workforce and – by reviving the airport - support more jobs across the region than ever before
- Provide labour market entry points for young people, including through apprenticeships and graduate programmes, and facilitate training in response to technological innovation in aviation and associated sectors
- Promote a clean, green recovery by building on commitments to reach net zero for the airport’s own operations and through involvement in UK industry plans to reach net zero aircraft emissions by 2050
- Ensure the airport’s procurement and supply chain spending targets businesses based in the region
Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive of Gatwick Airport, said:
“By working together, we can harness the extraordinary benefits the airport delivers to help the region rebuild, diversify and become more resilient following the devastating impact the pandemic has had on jobs, businesses and communities across the local area.
“As an airport, we plan to maximise the benefits we provide for local people, communities and businesses through a range of initiatives that focus on skills, employment, sustainability and our extensive supply chains, which support many thousands of jobs across the South East.
“We will also continue to work closely with our partners on their ambitious plans to diversify the region’s economy. Many established businesses tell us the airport was an important factor in their decision to locate in this region.
"We want to build on that by making sure the area is once again an attractive, innovative and well-connected place to invest and locate a business.”
A further new report, published by economists Oxera, has predicted that the return of air traffic to levels forecast before the pandemic will not happen until 2024 at the earliest.
The research also demonstrates that the airport could generate up to £8.4 billion for the region’s economy by 2028 – compared to £4.1 billion GVA in 2020.
The airport claims it would support economic activity that could generate enough tax receipts to provide over 220,000 primary school places or over 70,000 nurses across West and East Sussex, Surrey and Kent by 2028 – more than twice as many as in 2020.
The 50,000 new jobs would be in addition to the 69,000 jobs the airport was shown to provide on-airport, in its supply chain and other business-related jobs during the pandemic in 2020.
Ana Christie, CE0 of the Sussex Chamber of Commerce, said:
“These reports provide valuable evidence on just how important the airport is for the region’s economy, not just in terms of the jobs and economic contribution but also the central role it can play attracting new business clusters to Sussex.
"I’m looking forward to working closely with the airport to turn the predictions in these reports into reality so that together we can make the most of the economic opportunities we have on our doorstep.”