GATWICK

[euroxx]

Small Planet Airlines/Cosmos

From May 2013 for entire summer 2013 season, Small Planet will be operating Saturday flights from LGW to Malta (MLA). Full Charter flight by Monarch/Cosmos.

source: www.monarch.co.uk

[True Blue]

Has Korean Airlines confirmed that they are pulling off the Seoul route? I ask as Lgw is still in the booking system and timetable shows, although no results if you try to book in the summer.

DY has increased Hel to 2x from july.

TB

[bunatern]

while speaking today at a transport forum today gatwick ceo stewart wingate said a new long haul route wood be annouced later this week anyboby any ideas? my guess is its garuda to jakarta.

[Charley B]

Your guess is right...6 days a week Garuda Jakarta-LGW starting in the Autumn... 777-300 ER aircraft
Just appeared on the Gatwick website

[bcn_boy]

Garudaaaaaah...

Travelled with them to Jakarta from LGW back in 1994. Not long after they pulled the route. More safety than anything else and I am not surprised, broken seats, belts that did not buckle up correctly. Rumour has it they have improved. Good to see LGW with another Asian connection.

[canberra97]

GA

Bcn_boy

You say you travelled with Garuda from Gatwick to Jakarta in 1994 and you said that shortly after they pulled the route, GA actually withdrew from LGW in 2003 although the flights were to Denpaser(Bali) at that time.

Garuda Indonesian is a completely different airline in 2013 then in 1994, I have previously flown Garuda from Jakarta to LGW and found them excellent.

The only downside to this is that the start date of Autumn 2013 is a longway off yet and as much as I want to see Gatwick with further long haul expansion the airport does not seem to hold on to them very long, it seems for every new long haul airline gained the airport seems to loose one at the same time meaning that by the time Garuda do start flights to LGW how long will the likes of Air China be at the airport.

In the last year including upto the end of March the airport will have lost several long haul airlines including Air Nigeria, Air Zimbabwe, Delta, Hong Kong Airlines, Korean Air, US Airways.

With the situation between Kuwait and Iraq now resolved and the fact that Iraqi Airlines seems to be growing with the purchase of new aircraft I can see Iraqi Airways announcing LGW flights soon as well as a possibility of Philippine Airlines once they have there EU ban lifted although they have stated that LHR is on the radar I think LGW might tempt them.

But good news for LGW and I look forward to seeing Garuda back at the airport.

[Charley B]

Canberra97
Think Air Nigeria,Air Zimbabwe were internal airline issues sadly and and they would have pulled out of anywhere ,nothing to do with LGW.
Hong Kong Air was a big risk take,no matter where in Europe they may have placed this all business class route
US air sad to see that go
But.......................
We have the big EK bus(EK15,16) to look forward to on 26/3 again

[canberra97]

Long Haul

I wasnt actually stating that LGW was the problem for the airlines you mentioned and I am aware it was more of an internal matter with those airlines I was just stating that LGW are very unfortunate when it comes to keeping long haul airlines.

I aslo mentioned Iraqi Airways as a posible new airline at LGW, just noticed on Wikipedia that they are intending to fly from LGW although it states 01st February 2013 but I cant see that happening as that is todays date!

[Charley B]

I have heard May(hopefully this one!) regarding Iraqi Airlines. def not on the LGW arrivals for today!!!!..will be nice to see some different airlines
I cannot fathom why the US carriers just dont stay,not everyone wants to use LHR!!!
GIP have done so well...i miss Air Asia X A340,its nice to see the Hi Fly one when it visits .

[Wycombe]

Will bring back some memories for me to see "Indonesia" at LGW again.

It used to be multiple stops to CGK (via AUH and BKK on the trips I did in the 90's) and a change there to get to DPS, although I think there were some "direct" (ie, no airframe change) flights to DPS aswell.

They've been advertising heavily in the UK already (eg, Premiership footy matches) so hope they can make a go of it.....getting to DPS from the UK should be easier than it is today considering the numbers of us that go there.

[Skipness One Echo]

Philippine Airlines once they have there EU ban lifted

They're banned? Are you sure? Those B777s are brand new.

Garuda to launch Gatwick-Jakarta service - Business Traveller

[chinapattern]

They're banned? Are you sure? Those B777s are brand new.

All Philippine carriers are currently banned from operating in the EU although its thought that PAL will be soon be exempt from this. They've got plans to re-launch flights to London, Paris, Rome and Frankfurt.

[Facelookbovvered]

Titan will base an A320 in LGW for the Summer flying for the usual suspects, BA/Mon and ad hoc stuff

[fjencl]

Thanks for the Titan LGW update.

[Fairdealfrank]

Quote: "The only downside to this is that the start date of Autumn 2013 is a longway off yet and as much as I want to see Gatwick with further long haul expansion the airport does not seem to hold on to them very long, it seems for every new long haul airline gained the airport seems to loose one at the same time meaning that by the time Garuda do start flights to LGW how long will the likes of Air China be at the airport."

The majority of longhaul flights at LGW will remain there only until they acquire slots at LHR at a price they can afford. It's as simple as that.

[canberra97]

GA

Fairdealfrank

Well at least with Garuda they have had the experience at LGW after previously serving the airport for 23 years so they may stand a good chance of staying at LGW along with Emirates.

I dont want every long haul airline at LGW to move to LHR and some probably can not afford it anyway and therefore will stay at LGW but it is good to see a comeback with the recent new long haul airlines at LGW and may it continue 'hopefully'!

I do have fond memorys though of the viewing deck at LGW from 1980 onwards where you could look down on so many long haul airlines, exotic ones at that with the likes of Air Afrique, Air Gabon, Air Gambia, Air Lanka, Air New Zealand, Air Seychelles, Air Tanzania, Air Zimbabwe, ANA All Nippon Airways, Avianca, CAAC, Cameroon Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Garuda Indonesian, Korean Air, Philippine Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Royal Nepal Airlines, Sierra Leone Airlines, Uganda Airlines, Yemenia etc along with the north American carriers such as Braniff International, CP Air, Delta, Pan Am, Peoples Express, Northwest Orient, TransAmerica, TWA, Wardair, Western, World Airways, etc, etc, etc :-)

Sorry for that but the nostlagia was getting the better of me!

[True Blue]

Everytime a new LH route is announced at Lgw, the first re-action is always"how long before they are off to LHr". We are told tha Lhr is full and it seems that it will be 15+ years before there is a new runway there, if ever. Before then two things are going to happen. 1. The economy will start improving. 2. Airlines will want to keep expanding, both current airlines and new ones to the UK. With that in mind, at some point new entrants to Lgw will have to stay there, they will not be able to get into Lhr even if they want. So over time, the number of new long and mid haul routes at Lgw will increase and they will stay there. At least, that is the way I see it.

TB

[Skipness One Echo]

So over time, the number of new long and mid haul routes at Lgw will increase and they will stay there. At least, that is the way I see it.
TB

That assumes a static market, however it's more dynamic than that.
LHR airlines go bust or have to leave (Malev, CSA and the like) and that churn means slots do open up to long haul newcomers. LHR was declared full and closed to all newcomers in 1977, some thirty six years ago (!)

[True Blue]

Yes but that churn will decrease. Ba now have a much larger % of the slots, they are not going to churn, unless something dramatic happens. The number of smaller, weaker airlines is going down as they are forced out, even that is happening at Lgw. Going forward, the rate of churn will not be so great, I believe. Airlines at Lhr will want to expand, they will also be fighting for what might become available.

TB

[Skipness One Echo]

Ba now have a much larger % of the slots, they are not going to churn, unless something dramatic happens. The number of smaller, weaker airlines is going down as they are forced out

Not really if you think about it. BA took out a major player, the churn of the rest of the players is peripheral to BA / VS / BD / EI / AC etc etc. Look at airlines like Arik Air, Kingfisher (recently gone), South African (sold 1/3 of their slots to SQ), QANTAS (cut their operation by 50%).

Churned out : Kingfisher, China Airlines, BWIA, Air Jamaica
Churned in : TAM, China Airlines, Aeromexico, China Southern

Gatwick has been saying forever that they stand to profit from a full LHR and yet in recent years since 2008 they have
LOST Etihad, Qatar, Delta, Northwest, USAirways, American
Gained then LOST : Air Nigeria, Virgin Nigeria, Hong Kong Express, OASIS, Mexicana, Korean Air
Gained : Vietnam Airlines, Air China, Carribbean Airlines (LHR exile)
Nothing has really changed and since Air China is upping capacity at LHR onto the B777-300ER lets see if LGW lasts the summer.
btw I would keep a close eye on Vueling, any tie up with BA at LGW would increase the IAG portfolio for BA and release slots for long haul.