The majority of lenders to Gatwick Airport have agreed to waive debt repayments temporarily due to the exceptional circumstances affecting air travel.
The airport entered discussions in August with its lenders to try to obtain a temporary waiver of financial covenants, relating to £2.8bn of senior net debt at end-June 2021, and to amending certain terms of those covenants.
"Gatwick's financial response to COVID-19 has been strongly endorsed by its banks and bondholders, with over 92.5% of creditors in favour of Gatwick's proposal to deal proactively with the forecasted effect on its financial ratios,” said Lorenzo Rebel, deputy chief financial officer of Gatwick Airport Ltd. “This included agreement from Gatwick's largest bondholders through a special committee of the Investment Association as well as full support across Gatwick's bank group.
“This support, together with Gatwick's prudent financial policy, decisive management actions in response to Covid and long-term shareholder support, has positioned Gatwick with the liquidity and financial flexibility to implement its recovery plans," he added.
Gatwick, a 50.01%-owned subsidiary of VINCI Airports, won't be required to comply with the senior interest cover ratio and senior debt ratio at the next two testing points due at the end of December 2021 and the end of June 2022, Vinci said.
The method for calculating the debt ratio will be amended until June 2024 to adjust for the exceptional impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the airport’s earnings, Vinci added.