Originally Posted by
vectisman
True Blue, There will always be those who are reluctant to accept that BA and other airlines can be successful at Gatwick. I believe that after the pandemic and Heathrow determined
to raise charges, Gatwick will do quite well for itself in the next few years. Yes, Heathrow yields may be higher but that means higher fares too! We shall just have to wait and see.
I am pleased that BA (in all its forms) will have a meaningful presence back at Gatwick next Summer. Probably at least 12 based 777 and 18 short haul Airbus aircraft with more to come in future years.
Balance sheets are gutted and debt is growning alarmingly, and no one knows what the post COVID world will look like, anyone who says they do is lying. So the magic dartboard of route planning will be deployed once more, some will hit, some will miss. Until we get a view on business travel bounceback the LHR/LGW split will be less clear cut than before. It also astonishes me that EDI is missing off the list, and it's hard to suggest profits are so fat at LGW that BA staff had to take yet another kick over wages. There'll be 1-2 years of post COVID settling in before the new world is bedded in and we'll know what works where. But LGW is like LHR in that their balance sheet is in tatters, so they can't afford to cut user charges by much, if at all.