Gatwick-3

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Wycombe

Have just seen the sad story of the fatality, those escalators (for the bridge) are very high

Escalators of any height should be treated with great respect as the consequences of a fall will typically be more severe than on a similar-sized stairway.

As it happens, my wife had a slight mishap on the LGW Skybridge last Saturday, falling backwards on it - fortunately on the down side, thereby escaping with just a few scratches and a bruised ego.

[Musket90]

I wonder if these flight cut totals announced for July and August include the cancelled flights that Easyjet and others may have notified the airport in advance about. If not then the daily movements could turn out to be less than stated..

[TBSC]

Originally Posted by Musket90

I wonder if these flight cut totals announced for July and August include the cancelled flights that Easyjet and others may have notified the airport in advance about. If not then the daily movements could turn out to be less than stated..

My thoughts exactly. Wizz need a good excuse as well to cut schedule without losing even more face.

[davidjohnson6]

Is there any intention by Gatwick's main airlines, to state *publicly* when the cancelling of summer flights is completed ? With 75 out of 900 flights being cut in July, that gives a 1-in-12 chance of a flight being cancelled - far too high for most people to consider booking a flight from LGW when LHR, LTN and STN are not affected as severely

[toledoashley]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

Is there any intention by Gatwick's main airlines, to state *publicly* when the cancelling of summer flights is completed ? With 75 out of 900 flights being cut in July, that gives a 1-in-12 chance of a flight being cancelled - far too high for most people to consider booking a flight from LGW when LHR, LTN and STN are not affected as severely

I wouldn’t be surprised with the number of cancellations I saw last week for August, that its already happened - https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220615-u2jul22lgw?rq=Easyjet

[Mr Optimistic]

Anything going on at Gatwick just now ? Daughter says terminal shut and no access to train station. Bailed by taxi.
edit : police incident apparently.

[VickersVicount]

Well Scoot didn’t last long…. Slightly predictable to be honest.

[JW95]

Scoot LGW cessation and future long haul to Asia?

Originally Posted by VickersVicount

Well Scoot didn’t last long…. Slightly predictable to be honest.

Even so, a shame, and yet another long haul loss for LGW Will this also mean that LGW will no longer have any flights to Asia? Would love to see GIP/LGW rebuild some of the links it had to Asia/the Far East it had before Covid broke out. Not everyone prefers having to use LHR, especially now with charges going up.

[TCAS FAN]

[QUOTE=JW95;11252952......Will this also mean that LGW will no longer have any flights to Asia? ......[/QUOTE]

Emirates through DXB does me fine.

[BA318]

Originally Posted by JW95

Even so, a shame, and yet another long haul loss for LGW Will this also mean that LGW will no longer have any flights to Asia? Would love to see GIP/LGW rebuild some of the links it had to Asia/the Far East it had before Covid broke out. Not everyone prefers having to use LHR, especially now with charges going up.

charges at LHR aren’t going up. The regulator decided to lower them.

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by JW95

Even so, a shame, and yet another long haul loss for LGW Will this also mean that LGW will no longer have any flights to Asia? Would love to see GIP/LGW rebuild some of the links it had to Asia/the Far East it had before Covid broke out. Not everyone prefers having to use LHR, especially now with charges going up.

Air Asia X as your probably aware have obtained slots at LGW for their planned Kuala Lumpur -Dubai-London Gatwick flight. No date yet confirmed for the route to commence though, if it does at all.

In the last ten years since 2012 at least London Gatwick Airport has lost the following airlines and routes from Asia's Far East.

Beijing...Air China
Chongqing...Tianjin Airlines
Hanoi...Vietnam Airlines
Ho Chi Minh City...Vietnam Airlines
Hong Kong...Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Airlines
Jakarta...Garuda Indonesian
Kuala Lumpur...Air Asia X and Malaysian Airlines
Seoul...Korean Air
Shanghai...Air China and China Eastern Airlines
Taipei...China Airlines
Tianjin...Tianjin Airlines

​​​​​​I don't think that LGW will ever see that amount of Asian airlines and destinations again.

​​​​​​Looking at future opportunities regarding the expansion of long haul at LGW there are several "possibilities" which I will list. Some could be resumptions, some could be from planned national airlines and of course some that might not be able to obtain slots at LHR. Of course some are real long shots but nevertheless possibilities.

Air Asia X... Kuala Lumpur via Dubai
Air Senegal...Dakar
Air Tanzania...Dar es Salaam
Air Zimbabwe...Harare
Flynas...Jeddah and Riyadh
Ghana Airways...Accra
Iraqi Airways...Baghdad
Nepal Airlines...Kathmandu
Nigerian Air...Lagos
Somon Air...Dushanbe
Uganda Airlines...Entebbe
Zambia Airways...Lusaka

​​​​

[davidjohnson6]

Direct flights from London to Dushanbe ?!?!?!

[JW95]

Originally Posted by Sotonsean

Air Asia X as your probably aware have obtained slots at LGW for their planned Kuala Lumpur -Dubai-London Gatwick flight. No date yet confirmed for the route to commence though, if it does at all.

In the last ten years since 2012 at least London Gatwick Airport has lost the following airlines and routes from Asia's Far East.

Beijing...Air China
Chongqing...Tianjin Airlines
Hanoi...Vietnam Airlines
Ho Chi Minh City...Vietnam Airlines
Hong Kong...Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Airlines
Jakarta...Garuda Indonesian
Kuala Lumpur...Air Asia X and Malaysian Airlines
Seoul...Korean Air
Shanghai...Air China and China Eastern Airlines
Taipei...China Airlines
Tianjin...Tianjin Airlines

​​​​​​I don't think that LGW will ever see that amount of Asian airlines and destinations again.

​​​​​​Looking at future opportunities regarding the expansion of long haul at LGW there are several "possibilities" which I will list. Some could be resumptions, some could be from planned national airlines and of course some that might not be able to obtain slots at LHR. Of course some are real long shots but nevertheless possibilities.

Air Asia X... Kuala Lumpur via Dubai
Air Senegal...Dakar
Air Tanzania...Dar es Salaam
Air Zimbabwe...Harare
Flynas...Jeddah and Riyadh
Ghana Airways...Accra
Iraqi Airways...Baghdad
Nepal Airlines...Kathmandu
Nigerian Air...Lagos
Somon Air...Dushanbe
Uganda Airlines...Entebbe
Zambia Airways...Lusaka

​​​​

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?

[Haven't a clue]

Any return by Chinese airlines will depend on President Xi relaxing his zero Covid strategy and removing quarantine requirements for arriving travellers. Whilst China has recently reduced the requirement to 7 days quarantine followed by a short period of isolation at home there is no indication that the flagship policy will disappear. Hong Kong has brought in a similar reduction (from 21 days, then to 14 and now to 7). Some business travellers and returning residents are the only people likely to accept quarantine as a necessary part of their trip, but inbound tourists certainly won't. The Chinese government are actively discouraging travel abroad by its citizens (passport renewals are on hold, and those departing are questioned at the airport as to whether their travel can be justified as essential). Outbound tourism is not regarded as an essential reason to travel.

So I fear your optimism regarding the return of CX, Air China, and China Eastern in the near term is misplaced.

[jdcg]

Cathay Pacific- only if there is a big immigration from Hong Kong to UK (quite possible) and then there might be regular VFR trips. Business with Hong Kong is surely set to diminish with the China squeeze.

Air Asia X - what has changed at the macro economic level to make this more likely and sustainable. Nothing. Quite the reverse.

Garuda Indonesia - are scrapping all long haul outsude of Asia and will codeshare with Emirates instead.

Air China and China Eastern - now that China has aligned itself more strongly with Russia, are we really going to be encouraging Chinese travel to the UK? Of course, education is a big draw for the Chinese, but even that people here are starting to question.

BA to BKK. Well, it would be nice. Gatwick is a good alternative to LHR for many of us here in London. I think there's scope for increase in O & D / touristic routes. But not much else for some time, especially with oil prices rocketing

[JW95]

Future long haul prospects for LGW

This is also another big if.... But would SQ be willing to take a look at LGW? I've no doubt that a large chunk of transit passengers once using CX via HKG has now gone to SQ via SIN, which will no doubt help increase demand to SIN (and onwards) further. Just as with most FCNCs, I realise that they'd prefer additional LHR slots and perhaps upgauge more rotations to A380s, but if they couldn't get hold of further slots at Heathrow, I wonder if they could make a single daily LGW-SIN rotation work on the A359? This aircraft has been fantastic in opening up new, 'thinner' long haul routes, so could Gatwick work for them?

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

Direct flights from London to Dushanbe ?!?!?!

Tajik Air used to fly between Dushanbe and London Heathrow in 1994 with a former United Airlines Boeing 747SP N149UA
​​​​​​
Tajikistan International Airlines used to fly between Dushanbe and London Heathrow in 1995 with a former TAP Air Portugal Lockheed L10-11-500 CS-TEB. The airline also served Birmingham International.
Tajik Air is still in existence and is the government owned official flag carrier for Tajikistan.

Somon Air is a privately owned Tajikistan airline based in Dushanbe and has progressively been expanding. The airline seems to be more ambitious than the national flag carrier and has recently announced two new destinations in Europe, those being Frankfurt and Munich.

So I don't see why it's so far fetched to assume that a possible direct flight between Dushanbe and London is not a possibility in the future.

​​​

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by JW95

This is also another big if.... But would SQ be willing to take a look at LGW? I've no doubt that a large chunk of transit passengers once using CX via HKG has now gone to SQ via SIN, which will no doubt help increase demand to SIN (and onwards) further. Just as with most FCNCs, I realise that they'd prefer additional LHR slots and perhaps upgauge more rotations to A380s, but if they couldn't get hold of further slots at Heathrow, I wonder if they could make a single daily LGW-SIN rotation work on the A359? This aircraft has been fantastic in opening up new, 'thinner' long haul routes, so could Gatwick work for them?

Singapore Airlines have never flown from London Gatwick Airport and has never shown any interest in doing so.

On the other hand Singapore Airlines low cost long haul carrier SCOOT has been flying between Singapore and London Gatwick via Bangkok. If the airline felt that there was enough demand between Singapore and London the stop in Bangkok would probably have been dropped. The fact that the flight went from Singapore to London Gatwick with a stop in Bangkok says alot about the demand flying direct.

​​​​​​Although I haven't seen an official confirmation there has been comments on this thread regarding SCOOT discontinuing the flight.

So in saying that I can't see Singapore Airlines flying between Singapore and London Gatwick.

[Sotonsean]

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.

​​​​​

[True Blue]

BA is returning Orlando to Lgw and cancelling Lhr.