Gatwick-3

[airhumberside]

Originally Posted by BA318

I’d remove Aegean from that list at least. They are a Star Alliance member and shift a lot of transfers at LHR to the US/Canada and beyond. Plus they make money so not in any immediate need to sell up.

Aren't Aegean dropping LGW-ATH as well?

Originally Posted by BA318

I think the Maltese Gov wouldn’t let KM lose the slot at LHR. It’s always been protected by them

Indeed. Malta MedAir seems to be have been established for the sole purpose of protecting the LHR (and LGW) slots. Separate their ownership away from Air Malta. Their future will have more to do with Maltese politics than economics I suspect

Originally Posted by BA318

Eurowings stays within the LH group so it might be transferred to another if they need it more but I doubt it.

Could be a way for ITA to get back into LHR in the future, should the LH investment be approved

[JW95]

Who's next?

Originally Posted by Sotonsean

It's a shame to see ITA Airways leave London Heathrow. Although it's a completely different airline to it's predecessor. Alitalia the predecessor to ITA Airways once had a sizeable operation to London Heathrow from various Italian destinations. During the eighties and nineties London Heathrow would see numerous daily flights with Alitalia from Bologna, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Rome, Turin and Venice with a mixture of aircraft such as the Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321, Boeing 727, MD-83 and even the odd DC-10-30.

There was always a couple of aircraft from Alitalia at the former Terminal 2 gates during that period in time. I remember on one occasion when looking from the former Queens Building viewing area seeing five Alitalia aircraft at former Terminal 2 at the same time. During the late nineties the secondary Italian airports were transferred to London Gatwick leaving just the Milan and Rome flights remaining at London Heathrow. With those two final destinations set to cease, the long history of Alitalia will soon be over at London Heathrow.

Agreed. This is a sad loss for LHR, and indeed, the end of an era for ITA, who have, of course, had a long history serving Heathrow through their predecessor, Alitalia. Certainly did not see this one coming. Even if they intend to use LGW merely as an interim measure, I suspect that the slot situation at LHR is unlikely to change for some time, so I don't think they will be expecting ITA's return in the near future sadly. However, on the plus side, it is always welcome news hearing of a new carrier launch or return to London Gatwick, and I will certainly be looking forward to seeing ITA's livery at Gatwick soon. I wonder which terminal they will be using?

As for other carriers, who will be next and who else is likely to consider Gatwick operations? There was a bulletin posted on the Cathay Pacific forum on Flyertalk which confirmed that LHR is to be maintained at 5 daily from the summer, with CX239 and CX256 being reinstated. Travel24 previously mentioned that the airline is planning on returning to Gatwick later this year in October, and with the A350 now no longer serving London, hopefully they will be next to confirm LGW soon?

[Asturias56]

"VDuring the eighties and nineties London Heathrow would see numerous daily flights with Alitalia from Bologna, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Rome, Turin and Venice with a mixture of aircraft such as the Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321, Boeing 727, MD-83 and even the odd DC-10-30."

with tht fleet mix no wnder they never made a $

I can remember that you turned up - and your flight was ALWAYS 2 hours late departing - but that was OK because they just shoved you on the one about to leave (which was also 2 hours late)..................

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by Asturias56

"VDuring the eighties and nineties London Heathrow would see numerous daily flights with Alitalia from Bologna, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Rome, Turin and Venice with a mixture of aircraft such as the Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321, Boeing 727, MD-83 and even the odd DC-10-30."

with tht fleet mix no wnder they never made a $

I can remember that you turned up - and your flight was ALWAYS 2 hours late departing - but that was OK because they just shoved you on the one about to leave (which was also 2 hours late)..................

Well at the end of the day at least you got to your destination. But during that period in time so many flights by several European airlines would often be running late at LHR. Lufthansa was always an exemption and SAS were very similar.

Incidentally the exact same fleet mix that Iberia were also using during the same period in the eighties and nineties.

Your story of delayed flights probably accounted for one of the reasons why there always seemed to be quite a few Alitalia aircraft at the gates of the former LHR Terminal 2 at the same time. But Alitalia did have quite a substantial schedule to LHR at that time.

[Asturias56]

"Well at the end of the day at least you got to your destination"

Exactly - tho it took a while to slip into the Italian way of doing business and not worry, it always worked out somehow in the end - it was a good prep for what lay ahead in Milan or Rome at the office

[LGS6753]

I don't think a new service to Tiblisi has been mentioned here yet. The carrier is Georgian start-up Air Iveria. Fleet and frequency details not yet known.

[davidjohnson6]

Originally Posted by LGS6753

I don't think a new service to Tiblisi has been mentioned here yet. The carrier is Georgian start-up Air Iveria. Fleet and frequency details not yet known.

Perhaps if Air Iveria had a website, there might be more reason for interest. They don't even seem to have a "watch this space" single page website
Planning to start flights in less than 3 months on a route that will take 5 hours without any ability to take bookings is an unusual strategy

[LGS6753]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

Perhaps if Air Iveria had a website, there might be more reason for interest. They don't even seem to have a "watch this space" single page website
Planning to start flights in less than 3 months on a route that will take 5 hours without any ability to take bookings is an unusual strategy

It's certainly a strange approach. I found the information in an article in the Telegraph's travel section but was unable to discover much more than I have written. They do apparently have Gatwick slots.

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by LGS6753

It's certainly a strange approach. I found the information in an article in the Telegraph's travel section but was unable to discover much more than I have written. They do apparently have Gatwick slots.

CH-AVIATION.COM quoted this in an article on its site earlier this week. It's behind a pay wall, so I can't link it.

Air Iveria has also been showing on the London Gatwick Wikipedia page for the last few days.

I totally agree with what has been mentioned by others regarding this "strange" airline. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this.

[davidjohnson6]

The source on wikipedia for Air Iveria flying Gatwick - Tbilisi comes from avia.ge - an obscure travel agency based in Georgia. Avia.ge has a web page which states Air Iveria will fly the routes but the avia.ge is not currently selling flights on Air Iveria.
This source was added to wikipedia by an IP address (not a logged in person). The IP address has made only 8 edits, 2 of which referred to Air Iveria.

[Sotonsean]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

The source on wikipedia for Air Iveria flying Gatwick - Tbilisi is from an obscure travel agency based in Georgia which states Air Iveria will fly the routes but the travel agency is not currently selling flights on Air Iveria. It was added to wikipedia by an IP address (not a logged in person). The IP address has made only 8 edits, 2 of which were referred to Air Iveria.

Thanks for that update. I had clicked and read the link on Wikipedia. But a strange approach to starting a new route by what is probably an "iffy" airline.

[Travel24]

Air peace

Air peace have now added Gatwick starting 31st March using the 777-300

[ATNotts]

Originally Posted by Travel24

Air peace have now added Gatwick starting 31st March using the 777-300

And the source for that info was......

(I feel sure I know, but they deserve crediting).

As you probably know seanm1997 on Twitter is an exellent provider of reliable information and your posting looked remarkably similar. If it came directly from you I apologise for making an incorrect assumption.

[davidjohnson6]

SeanM published about Air Peace somewhere between 6 am and 7 am this morning. Travel24 published at 11:18 pm last night. It's not impossible that Travel24 got his/her info from another blogger... but deeply unfair to insinuate it came from SeanM when Travel24 published at least 7 hours in advance.

There seems to be something of a tendency to assume that only SeanM can look at airline websites, work out what's changing and post this info to an Internet site. Other people were doing this extensively before SeanM decided to do so and one should not assume that SeanM is the only person with ability to do so. Jim Liu at aeroroutes.com is just one of the better known examples. I can think of 20 other websites who publish openly on a regular basis and often pick up on route changes in Europe before SeanM. Many of these show good respect for other people coming up with info independently and are unlikely to complain openly when somebody else publishes info to the web.

[ATNotts]

No, you're right. I had a total abberation regarding the timeline and as you can see apologised!

[adfly]

Air India are also adding Bengaluru from 1st April - 5x weekly

AI177 BLR 1405-2005 LGW (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri & Sun)
AI178 LGW 2135-1150+1 BLR (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri & Sun)

Source: SeanM1997 on Twitter.

[Sotonsean]

London Gatwick Airport has successfully started 2024 with new airlines and route announcements, may this continue 👌

London Gatwick Airport long-haul or should I say intercontinental route network is expanding nicely and the airport now has more intercontinental destinations than pre COVID. Served by more intercontinental airlines than pre COVID.

So far for 2024 London Gatwick Airport will see service from the following intercontinental airlines and destinations. Quite an impressive list that doesn't even include destinations served by British Airways and Norse or even TUI.

Air China...Beijing, Shanghai
Air India...Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangaluru, Goa, Kochi
Air Iveria...Tbilisi
Air Mauritius...Port Louis
Air Peace...Lagos
Air Transat...Montréal, Québec, Toronto
Azerbaijan Airlines...Baku
China Eastern Airlines...Shanghai
China Southern Airlines...Guangzhou, Zhengzhou
Delta...New York JFK
Emirates...Dubai
Ethiopian Airlines...Addis Ababa
Jetblue...Boston, New York JFK
Qatar Airways...Doha
Saudia...Jeddah
Singapore Airlines...Singapore
TAAG Angola Airlines...Luanda?
Westjet...Halifax, St John's

26 world-wide destinations in 14 countries and served by upto 18 intercontinental airlines. It's been a very long time indeed since London Gatwick can claim that.

I've obviously omitted destinations and airlines from North Africa or Turkey.

[andymartin]

Expect the usual long delays at Gatwick this summer then with all these extra flights. Blamed by ATC on 'slot restrictions ' no doubt.

[SWBKCB]

Originally Posted by andymartin

Expect the usual long delays at Gatwick this summer then with all these extra flights. Blamed by ATC on 'slot restrictions ' no doubt.

How many runway slots would be required if they all operated?

[Sotonsean]

Air Peace

Its been finally announced and Nigerian carrier Air Peace will launch at the beginning of the IATA nothern summer season Lagos to London Gatwick.

Flights begin on the 31 March 2024. Air Peace will operate Lagos to London Gatwick five times weekly with a Boeing 777-200ER.

P47578 LOS 00.10 LGW 06.40 777 x17
P47479 LGW 11.10 LOS 17.40 777 x57

Credit...aeroroutes.com

Air Peace states that it's a credible airline serving the needs of Nigeria. If that is really the case then the Nigerian government should abandon its plans for a new national carrier and put Air Peace in that position instead. If that were the case a name change for the carrier would be more appropriate than the current one.

A name change to the likes of the original Nigerian Airways would make this airline more relevant. But Air Peace seems popular with the Nigerian population and this will be their target audience on Lagos to London Gatwick.

Air Peace will be the sixth Nigerian carrier to have operated a Lagos to London route over the last few decades with the others being,

Air Nigeria
Arik Air
Bellview Air
Nigerian Airways
Virgin Nigeria