Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
Which of the new entrants at LGW would BA be most concerned about?
Not 100% certain, but Singapore airlines could draw people away from LHR services as could Cathy Pacific if they return.
Air India seems to be doing well on their services too. You also have Saudi and Ethiopian (The later offering good connections throughout Africa).
The Chinese carriers offering 3 to 4 flights daily and of course Emirates and Qatar Airways.
There are also short haul entrants too, such as Lufthansa and Swissair. They also obviously don't want to leave the SH market to easyjet. as why bother with BA Euroflyer? They are taking back all the slots leased to easyjet since the pandemic by 2025.
Having said that they appear to have given easyjet an almost free run on domestics from Gatwick. BA were carrying 300000 to 400000 plus passengers annually to and from Gatwick and Edinburgh up to 2019.
I don't believe they have all disappeared, even allowing for less business travel.
Of course they remain determined to protect their Heathrow loads and yields. I wonder if BA Euroflyer are really that free to try additional cities from Gatwick without mainline worrying about impact on their services from LHR.
I also didn't say they were concerned, rather just keeping an eye. However, they did react when Norwegian expanded some of their transatlantic destinations from Gatwick a few years ago. They seem less worried about Norse though.
Just a few random thoughts.