The chief executive of Gatwick airport has revealed more about the unprecedented evacuation of the South Terminal on Friday 22 November – an event that wrecked the travel plans of thousands of airline passengers.
The cause: a security scare involving a package in passengers’ cabin baggage discovered at the search area.
For five hours on one of the busiest days of the month, half of the airport’s check-in facilities were out of use – along with Gatwick’s rail station, which is part of the South Terminal.
Stewart Wingate, chief executive of the Sussex airport, said: “I was in the office on Friday morning and as far as we were concerned, things were just a normal day.
“Then suddenly, we get the news through that there’s a suspect package.
“Our threat assessors have to look at the package and make their own judgment on it. They’re obviously professionally trained to do that.
“When they did they weren’t happy with what they saw.”
Pictures of the suspect package were sent to the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialists, who decided to travel to Gatwick to investigate the suspect package.
Mr Wingate was speaking at the Airlines UK conference in London. He said: “When they say they’re putting the blue lights on and they’re headed in your direction and you must put in place a 100-metre cordon, at that point that’s the ultimate test.
“The airport operator must prioritise the safety and the security of passengers – knowing full well as we go into that, that regrettably we’re going to be having a period of disruption.”
The evacuation began at 10.28am, with the entire “landside” area – including check-in and retail – cleared of passengers and staff.
The two passengers who were carrying the suspect item were later allowed to continue their journey – causing some airline officials to complain about an over-reaction by security personnel.
Even when the airport reopened, it took many hours for passengers to check in and go through security.
In addition, at least 80 flights were cancelled, affecting around 5,000 passengers, many on British Airways; Vueling, Wizz Air and Ryanair also grounded planes.
Mr Wingate said: “Overall, we actually managed it well. As much information as possible was given to passengers.
“There’s no getting away from the fact that if you’re on one of those flights that got cancelled, you are bitterly disappointed. But at least you’re safe and secure, is what I would argue.
“We wouldn’t change the fundamental decision that we took. If you’re faced with that information, you have little choice other than to put the cordon in place and then manage the disruption as best as possible and to try and get back up and running as quickly as possible.”
The Gatwick CEO also said that he was hoping for a fast decision from ministers on the airport’s expansion plans, which would see the standby runway brought into permanent use alongside the current main runway.
At the same event, the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said Labour is “completely behind aviation growth” – so long as it is compatible with the government’s targets on net zero.
