According to British Airways, the move will secure jobs at the site and expand the airline’s presence at the London airport. It will ultimately benefit BA customers by bringing additional skills, expertise and facilities into the business which will help to support the BA operation.
This transaction sees the airline create a new wholly owned engineering subsidiary called British Airways Engineering Gatwick (BAEG) which will join BA’s existing engineering operations in South Wales (BAEW) and Glasgow (BAMG). Staff employed by Boeing who work at the facility will, subject to an employee information and consultation process, be transferred to the new subsidiary in Q2 of this year.
This is a significant investment for British Airways and forms part of the airline’s strategy to expand its engineering operation. Longer term, it's expected the carrier will recruit additional staff and grow this new facility at Gatwick. British Airways’ existing engineering operation at Gatwick is a vital part of the airline’s family, and its role and capability as a key engineering hub or ‘line station’ in the airline's network will be enhanced with the hangar now under British Airways ownership.
British Airways chief technical officer Andy Best said: “This announcement will help us to be the very best in the business by bringing in the skills and expertise of former Boeing colleagues and adding a large, modern hangar to our portfolio of engineering facilities. It will support the reliability of our entire fleet, which is good news for our customers and colleagues.
“We’re proud of our Gatwick operation and this will give us a stronger presence which under-lines our commitment to the airport.”
Taking over the Boeing facility will significantly boost British Airways’ engineering operation at Gatwick, enabling it to continue to carry out minor maintenance on 777 aircraft at the airport. This increased capacity will allow BA to in-source some scheduled heavy maintenance work on its A320/321 fleet. Additionally, it will enhance its capacity to carry out unscheduled repair work, as well as providing additional maintenance resilience, and relieving capacity challenges at other locations across the BA network. According to the airline, carrying out more 777 and A320/A321 maintenance at Gatwick will reduce the need to ferry these aircraft to other operational bases, which supports BA’s wider sustainability goals.
