Surprised at this choice, given BA's presence on the route (return to) and easyJet's position, this would not have been an obvious choice
Surprised at Gatwick or London in general? London is a major gap in the Vueling network from Barcelona. Then when you consider the fact Vueling also run a hub at BCN, London becomes a critical market for them IMO
I think you'll find that what's happening here is that Iberia are going to pull the few remaining international services they still have from BCN and make it a low cost hub for their inferior subsidiary Vueling.
Pull what? Right now IB mainline operate just one international service from BCN - Sao Paulo - and that is being axed at the end of this month anyway
(There are some IB regional routes from BCN as well, but is it IB or Air Nostrum who decides on these?)