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Back in March, Gatwick Airport announced a temporary closure of its North Terminal in response to the massive reduction in flights due to COVID-19. From Monday (15th June 2020) the North Terminal will be re-opened as the airport hopes to see a sustained increase in the number of flights and passengers.

“From 15 June, we are re-opening our North Terminal for flight arrivals and departures. We do recommend that you check which terminal your flight is departing from, as during this period airlines may operate from a different terminal to normal. You can also check our live daily flight information.” 

Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive of 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.”

How different is the airport experience going to be?

As part of its new hygiene measures, the airport requires passengers to do 4 key things:

1. Wear a face covering while travelling through Gatwick – following government leglislation, this is now compulsory on all public transport, including airports.
2. Maintain social distancing.
3. Wash your hands regularly.
4. Keep your hands clean on the go by using hand sanitiser.

More generally, these are the measures you can expect to see:

• “All our staff working at the airport will be wearing a face mask or covering in passenger areas of the terminal and all passengers will be required to wear a face covering too.

• You will see protective screens in place at many places including check-in, boarding and gates. This is to protect both you and those working at Gatwick. There are also additional cleaning measures in place to help you feel reassured. These include dedicated staff to  clean common use surfaces, touchscreens, handrails etc. We have also installed special ‘PPE bins’ in the terminals which are clearly marked for the disposal of face coverings and gloves only.

• You will hear in-terminal announcements and see plenty of signage and digital reminders to about keeping to social distancing rules and to wash or sanitiser your hands regularly throughout your journey.

• We have installed a large number of hand sanitiser stations throughout the terminals, and other places where you can wash your hands are clearly marked.

• You will also notice that seating arrangements have been changed to ensure social distancing measures can be observed. Families and groups travelling together will, however, be able to sit together

• In some areas of the airport, one-way flows will be in place.”

Gatwick Airport has also produced a helpful infographic, and a video that you can watch below: