• Contact
  • About
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
East Anglia Bylines
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
East Anglia Bylines

A grounded industry: Covid hits Norwich Airport

The Eastern Region’s third airport has been hit hard by Covid. But it is beginning to recover, with help from its role as a parking site.

Stephen McNairbyStephen McNair
August 17, 2021
in Anglia, Norfolk
Reading Time: 4 mins
A A
Covid hits Norwich Airport: Photo by Stephen McNair

Covid hits Norwich Airport: Photo by Stephen McNair

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The airline industry is one of those most severely hit by Covid. Worldwide, the number of commercial flights fell by two thirds.  This has disrupted business, family and holiday travel, and the lives of all those employed in the industry, in the air and on the ground. Covid has hit Norwich as hard as anywhere.

The impact of Covid on the airport

Norwich is the Eastern region’s third airport, (after Stansted and Southend). When the country locked down in March 2020 almost all airport activity stopped, apart from helicopter shuttles to the offshore platforms. Despite unprecedented support from its shareholders, and the furlough scheme, the airport had to reduce its workforce by 30%. The knock-on effect for the hundreds of people employed in airport related work in Norwich was also substantial.

The airport is critical of the government’s “zero risk” approach to aviation. Along with other airports, Norwich lobbied government to make more use of  testing to mitigate the quarantine requirements after the first wave, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The result has been  a prolonged loss of business. It will take some time to recover.

Norwich airport before Covid

Before Covid, the airport contributed £70 million a year to the regional economy, serving half a million leisure and business travellers a year, from across Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. Its 150 passenger flights a week were mainly internal, but the daily shuttle to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport provided a convenient and important link to global destinations for business and leisure travellers. Norwich also operated charter flights to 18 holiday destinations, and was a major base for the offshore industry.

However, as a small airport Norwich is vulnerable to the fortunes of small airlines. The airport took a hit when Flybe went into liquidation as the pandemic hit in 2020. Loganair still operates shuttle flights to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Jersey, and has now taken over the old Flybe Exeter route, but it no longer has staff based in Norwich.

A plane park

Planes waiting for Covid at Norwich
Covid hits Norwich Airport : Photo by Stephen McNair

One major effect of the shutdown of the industry was a parking problem. In normal times, at any one moment, a large number of planes are in the air. When that stopped, suddenly airports started to run out of parking space on the ground.

But Norwich Airport came to the rescue. Although it largely stopped operation as a passenger airport, it has provided a home on the ground for over 50 aircraft. This provided a much needed boost to the airport’s income. As the industry begins to revive, those aircraft are slowly starting to depart. Half have already gone.

Recovering from Covid

The airport recovery has started at Norwich. Flights have been agreed for the next year to 19 destinations in 10 countries. This includes some new routes. But there are still major uncertainties about the potential effects of further lockdowns and changing quarantine requirements. The airport wants the government to extend the furlough scheme, to reflect the difficulties of returning workers to normal operations.

Nobody knows how rapidly people will want to return to flying. Traffic may not return to previous levels until 2025. Despite support from the airport’s shareholders, the financial impact of the shutdown will constrain plans to develop and expand for some time. Although they predict growth in numbers, it is not clear whether the previous ambition to triple numbers by 2045 can now be achieved.  The challenge to this major player in the regional economy remains serious.

Tags: Norwich
Previous Post

Six East Anglia employers named and shamed for not paying minimum wage

Next Post

Kickstarting a green career

Stephen McNair

Stephen McNair

Stephen McNair is a member of the EAB editorial team. He lives in Norfolk, where he is active in progressive politics. He spent most of his career working on education policy, especially learning and work, at local, national and international level. He founded the Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, and chaired a European Scientific Research Committee on Demographic Change.

Related Posts

View of a series of pylons marching across a valley in England
Anglia

Hope sparks for end of pylon controversy

byEast Anglia Bylines
December 7, 2023
Farmer workers in norfolk best over harvesting root crops
East Anglia

When rural Norfolk fought back

byStephen McNair
December 6, 2023
Jess showing the detail of the ship graffiti
Community

Our favourite stories: The cathedral walls have stories to tell

byCelina Błędowskaand1 others
December 3, 2023
Climate crisis. Houses on the cliff edge at Hemsby
Climate

“Sorry, you are on your own!” climate crisis hits Norfolk

byStephen McNair
December 3, 2023
Clive Lewis MP addressing Norwich Labour Party campaign event
News

In a shock move, Labour has lost control in Norwich

byEast Anglia Bylines
November 30, 2023
Next Post
Kickstarting a green career - Liam with a heat-pump. Photo by Stephen McNair

Kickstarting a green career

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

Subscribe to our newsletters
CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
Follow us on social media
CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
Download our app
ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
Subscribe to our gazette
CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
Make a monthly or one-off donation
DONATE NOW
Help us with our hosting costs
SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
We are always looking for citizen journalists
WRITE FOR US
Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
VOLUNTEER FOR US
Something else?
GET IN TOUCH
Previous slide
Next slide

LATEST

Astro turf dumped in a big pile

Astroturf pitch plans refused in ‘test case’ over health fears

December 8, 2023
Two people approach passport control at the UK Border Control, Heathrow.

Who’s afraid of freedom of movement?

December 8, 2023
A statue on a tomb of a woman leaning on the tomb, weeping.

Grief Awareness Week: resources for support and healing

December 7, 2023
View of a series of pylons marching across a valley in England

Hope sparks for end of pylon controversy

December 7, 2023
People demonstrating against poverty. One banner says "Fight poverty, not the poor."

We can eliminate poverty: but we have decided not to

December 7, 2023
Grape harvest, from the book of hours of the Duke of Berry. Some workers are bending over harvesting, other are chatting, one is tasting the grapes.

Cambridge – Town and Gown unto death

December 6, 2023

MOST READ

Climate crisis. Houses on the cliff edge at Hemsby

“Sorry, you are on your own!” climate crisis hits Norfolk

December 3, 2023
PM Rishi Sunak standing at the dispatch box during Prime Ministers Questions

Pecksniff: Is Sunak losing his marbles?

December 2, 2023
Hundreds of rioters push police back. Dozens of police are wearing helmets, hi-viz jackets and riot gear.

Polish lessons for the UK: stopping the far right

December 1, 2023
A hand holding a large bundle of £50 notes

EU to regulate political ads as UK welcomes ‘dark money’

December 4, 2023

Tags

Activism Anglian Water Brexit Business Cartoons Climate Community Conservatives COP26 Crime Democracy Economics Economy Elections Environment EU Farming Government Health History International Women's Day Labour Law Letters Local elections 2023 National Grid Net zero NHS Norwich Opinion Our place in Europe Pandemic Party politics Pecksniff Politics Poverty Sewage Social care Tax Trade Ukraine VAWG Welfare Wildlife Women
East Anglia Bylines

We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in East Anglia and beyond.

East Anglia Bylines is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times.

Learn more about us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Authors
  • Complaints
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Letters
  • Privacy
  • Network Map
  • Network RSS Feeds
  • Submission Guidelines

© 2023 East Anglia Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series

Newsletter sign up

DONATE

© 2023 East Anglia Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In