Name: Reopening an airport terminal is harder than you might think
Uploaded: 2022-05-03T23:44:09.000Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

This Sunday, the South Terminal at London's Gatwick Airport

未来形

will reopen to the public after nearly two years closed.

動名詞

And I figured that reopening would just be a case of the team here

turning the lights back on, dusting off some equipment,

But from talking to the folks who are getting everything ready,

it turns out that mothballing an entire airport terminal for 18 months

is much more difficult than you might think.

- In March 2020 when the pandemic struck, we obviously realized

there was going to be a significant downturn in traffic.

So we took the decision to close one of our terminals.

upwards of 900 movements off of our runway on a busy 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.

in March 2020 we all thought it'd be over in two weeks' time.

- If the terminal had been shut down for just a week, or maybe a month,

then yes, things would probably have just kept ticking over.

But there's some point at which upkeep is required.

In the same way that you're not meant to leave a car sitting unused

the mechanical parts in things like the baggage belts and jetbridges

need to be run, tested, and maintained regularly,

Closing the terminal does reduce costs, yes,

- 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.

heating and lighting in various areas nd power for escalators and lifts,

Mainly to save money during the crisis, we had to make cuts wherever possible.

We've been taking the opportunity to use the space for filming.

Film companies have been coming in and doing various shows around the airport.

Some of which, I think, will be airing in the next few weeks.

A large number of our workforce had been furloughed,

and since the 1st of October, we've had everyone back in

Now as passenger numbers start to grow, we are actively recruiting

and we need to increase our workforce by a significant number.

moving back over from North Terminal over three days,

but all the infrastructure will come online more or less from day one.

Yeah, it's the biggest one I've done at Gatwick airport.

that's now been closed for the best part of two years.

You know, buildings don't react too well to that sort of thing.

we've often likened it to opening a smaller airport,

It is a huge task that we're undertaking.

I think we're in a really good place to do it.

- The first flight from the South Terminal

is scheduled to leave on Sunday in the early hours of the morning.

So it'll probably be about 3am when the first passengers go through the doors.

that the terminal's only just opened again:

they'll just want to get to their destination.

they probably won't even know that the terminal was ever closed.