https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-55660837

Sad but not unexpected news that Norwegian is axing long haul and focusing on a core Nordic operation

Does this mean that Norwegian will still hold onto a base at LGW for cabin crew and flight deck, albeit to only operate the 737 aircraft out of LGW ?
Or are they closing the LGW base completely.........

No all UK based operations have ceased, crew made redundant. There will be no LGW base for SH or LH.

Only remaining Norwegian routes will likely be those in from the Nordic region: Bergen, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm and Trondheim. Nothing left based in the UK.

Gatwick Airport has borrowed a further £75m this week from the Government`s Covid CCFF fund for a total now of £250m with a further option available which could take the total borrowing to £300m.

Ultimately that money will be written off by Govt. There is no chance that it can be repaid in the next 10 years.

Seeing as you can see into the future, could I please have the winning lottery numbers for next month please?

An empty airport yet Jet Blue can’t get any slots https://simpleflying.com/jetblue-london-slots-complain/

racedo

I disagree. The money doesn't need to be repaid out of profits, it can be repaid from future borrowings. LGW has an enterprise value of >£1.5bn, so an extra £300m borrowings should not be unfeasible to arrange and service.

Loan repayable within 12 months.

Loan is never repaid out of profits, it is paid out of cash flow, interest is the only thing taht gets charged against profits.. Profits generate that cash flow and it is unlikely Gatwick will be making profits this year or next. Interest on external borrowings is likely to be in the 5% range which means Gatwick has to find £15 million a year from profits to just fund the interest.

southside bobby

That is just the loan term, Govt have really few options if they don't repay. Loan will just gets extended and written off in 10 years. Gatwick just say we are not investing in any imporvement until loan is repaid.

If LGW cannot repay the loan.... then it likely means there are not enough passengers going through the airport to need investment in improving facilities
Banks typically categorise defaulters of loans into either "Cannot pay" or "Do not want to pay". There are ample ways to deal with the 2nd category along with plenty of case law - LGW forms a real physical asset against which a land charge can be raised in the event of default, and (unlike some airlines) is not just a confidence trick

I know a man.....

Any govt loans MUST be repaid within the terms of the loan. UK tax payers are well covered, just means reduced dividends for shareholders.

davidjohnson6

Owners of LGW have already taken out loans where security of the airport has been provided.................... that is the whole basis of private equity and hedge funds. The lawyers get paid big bucks to ensure everything is included.

Taking a second or third charge is worth nothing because you have zero chance of getting anything. An airport without passengers is worth not a lot and no where close to the value when its owners took the loans out. Those who have the 1st charge get paid first and there will be little or nothing left for anybody after.

Buster the Bear

Good luck with that idea.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk...fings/sn01079/

Student debt is £140 billion and that should be easy, best estimates are that only 25% of 1.3 million current under graduates will repay in full.

Is there any hope at all for LGW, in particular, long haul, both in the medium and long term? I really hope so, the LGW long haul route and airline portfolio was particularly strong prior to COVID, can the airport bring at least some of this and it’s airlines back once travel opens up again?

Long term, yes of course. Gatwick suffers by being in Heathrow’s shadow. It lost a lot of its long haul after 9/11, it lost a lot of its long haul after the recession (which also coincided with Bermuda II being scrapped), but in the years after, the usual constraints on Heathrow return and long haul filters back over to Gatwick again.

There’s no need to fear, aside from prestige, long haul isn’t what brings the bacon into Gatwick and the local area. It’s nice to have a daily Cathay A350, but 67 (going up to 71) based easyJet Airbuses is what contributed the most to the record passenger numbers (pre-C19) and provides great swathes of employment to the area.

£5 charge to be dropped off at the airport from yesterday.

New summer seasonal route with Easyjet to Toulon. Wed + Sat from 23 June