Airlines face next big test with return to skies after year of hibernation

On a grey early spring morning in southern England, the airfield at Gatwick airport is eerily quiet. Rows of planes stand silent, their engines wrapped in brightly coloured covers to protect them. The only movement across an airport that can handle nearly 1,000 flights a day is a single, empty airliner being hauled across the tarmac in a sign of the devastating impact of the pandemic. But now, after a year in a state of suspended animation, the $800bn airline industry faces another big challenge as it prepares for the unprecedented logistical operation to restart mass travel once borders reopen. It cannot come soon enough for an industry forecast to burn up to $95bn this year. “Scaling up to suddenly handle a million plus more passengers a month this summer is a major operation that will take many weeks,” Gatwick’s chief executive Stewart Wingate said. With one of the two terminals closed, flights running at just 30 a day and shops empty, he wants clarity from governments to help the airport get ready. “It is vital we get as much certainty about how and when travel will return as soon as possible,” he said. Story has more.<br/>