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Old 30th Jun 2022, 02:54
  #759 (permalink)  
Sotonsean
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
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Originally Posted by JW95
Wow, that is a lot of withdrawals, more than I originally thought It is a shame, as LGW is a great airport to travel through and use.

Whilst I agree with you that we may not see the level of Asian destinations LGW had leading up to 2019, I do think there is scope for some of these carriers to reinstate services from LGW going forward.

Cathay Pacific- Although their presence in London is significantly down on pre-covid levels now, I do think that there is potential for them to return to LGW. I say this because with 80% slot utilisation rules now being reinstated, they are in serious danger of losing a sizeable chunk of their slots at LHR to another carrier if they do not use these slots now/medium term. With that in mind, this will prove to become a big problem for CX going into the medium-long term if they wish to expand their London-Hong Kong services once more, and LHR slots are unavailable. So LGW in that instance would be the next best thing for Cathay if they wish to increase London frequencies, although there is a strong argument that LGW may act merely as a waiting room for them initially while they wait to consolidate all frequencies at LHR. Should there be enough demand in the future, maybe CX would wish to have a dual-London operation once again, in which case, a daily LGW-HKG flight could be sustained alongside LHR. What is also clear was that LGW had been working well for them prior Covid, with the service jumping to daily fairly quickly, and I do remember the CX ground teams in LGW frequently commenting it had grown into one of the better performing "new" routes for the airline that worked well alongside LHR. The A359 was a great fit for this route, so hopefully we will see them back at Gatwick.

Air Asia X - Already rumoured and discussed in this and other threads. The airline has supposedly secured daily slots at LGW for W22, so I'm reasonably confident they will make a return to LGW over STN. I also didn't realise MH had previously operated into LGW?

Garuda Indonesia - Doubtful, but possible if they decide to have another go at London. Routing would more likely be redirected to Bali over Jakarta, given Bali's popularity as a tourist destination. That being said, the airline has tried and failed with both LGW and LHR previously, so I'm unsure if they'd be willing to take the risk again. The only way I could see them re-entering LGW would be to reinstate the tag-on from AMS, but again, that's a big if.

Air China- Possible further down the line, if excess capacity is needed which LHR alone cannot support, similar to their dual-London operation pre-Covid

China Eastern Airlines - Similar to above, would likely only reopen LGW if excess capacity is needed.

Also, I am wondering whether BA might be willing to give LGW another look if they were to reinstate their BKK service, now that Scoot are withdrawing? This carries a lot of O&D traffic when compared to their HKG and SIN routes, so might be a better fit for Gatwick over Heathrow?
Regarding Malaysian Airlines.

Malaysian Airlines briefly operated between Kuala Lumpur and London Gatwick Airport in 2012. This route started shortly before Air Asia X moved their own flight from London Stansted over to London Gatwick. It was nothing more than to combat Air Asia X and was soon discontinued once they had stopped their own flight. I don't think that Malaysian Airlines flew to London Gatwick for long, a matter of a few months.

Regarding Garuda Indonesian
Garuda Indonesian have just come out of their third bankruptcy and are cutting almost all of it's long haul operations and as already pointed out will use Emirates as a connecting partner going forward. In my opinion Garuda Indonesian should have stayed at London Gatwick rather than transferring to London Heathrow in 2012 when it went all down hill for the airline.

Regarding British Airways

I agree with your comments regarding British Airways and Bangkok. I know that Bangkok has been suspended by British Airways but if and when it returns and as long as the flight is making money out of London Heathrow I can't see it being moved to London Gatwick. I also can't see British Airways staying with London Gatwick to Islamabad long term especially with the recent suspension. In my opinion this route will either return to London Heathrow or be abandoned altogether.

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