Gatwick-3
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Spectator's Balcony is a better place for many of these, they're personal wishlists and don't really add anything to the conversation. Have you guys seen the loads on LGW-FRA? They're dire from what I've seen. Aer Lingus have just canned DUB and BA dropping AMS looks like IAG focussing more on LGW as a differentiator rather than complimenting LHR short haul. KLM are fat for LHR slots so would be unlikely IMHO. I sometimes wonder if even LHR-CDG adds much for Air France nowadays, it's gone all A220 of late so it would be masochistic of AF to undermine that further by opening LGW. They don't even offer LCY anymore either.
Btw is Singapore going North or South?
Btw is Singapore going North or South?
I have used DUB-LGW and I am sorry it's dropped. Dublin-London is still a huge market and I am surprised they've walked away from LGW once again. (3rd time now at least). They have also flown STN-DUB and more recently LCY-DUB was a grand offering with CityJet in Aer Lingus colours. I wonder if BA moving to DUB T2 was a factor in making sure IAG's LHR flights still gets on pier parking and so LGW was chopped? Probably not....
Last edited by Skipness One Foxtrot; 19th Mar 2024 at 13:56.
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They could still lease spare LHR slots out to anyone on the long list of those wanting in and still hold onto them and still fly from LGW. Air Mauritius did this and still hold LHR slots yet fly daily from LGW instead.
I have used DUB-LGW and I am sorry it's dropped. Dublin-London is still a huge market and I am surprised they've walked away from LGW once again. (3rd time now at least). They have also flown STN-DUB and more recently LCY-DUB was a grand offering with CityJet in Aer Lingus colours. I wonder if BA moving to DUB T2 was a factor in making sure IAG's LHR flights still gets on pier parking and so LGW was chopped? Probably not....
I have used DUB-LGW and I am sorry it's dropped. Dublin-London is still a huge market and I am surprised they've walked away from LGW once again. (3rd time now at least). They have also flown STN-DUB and more recently LCY-DUB was a grand offering with CityJet in Aer Lingus colours. I wonder if BA moving to DUB T2 was a factor in making sure IAG's LHR flights still gets on pier parking and so LGW was chopped? Probably not....
I'll also miss LGW, I've used it as a connection point often.
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Aer Lingus dropping LGW-DUB
They could still lease spare LHR slots out to anyone on the long list of those wanting in and still hold onto them and still fly from LGW. Air Mauritius did this and still hold LHR slots yet fly daily from LGW instead.
I have used DUB-LGW and I am sorry it's dropped. Dublin-London is still a huge market and I am surprised they've walked away from LGW once again. (3rd time now at least). They have also flown STN-DUB and more recently LCY-DUB was a grand offering with CityJet in Aer Lingus colours. I wonder if BA moving to DUB T2 was a factor in making sure IAG's LHR flights still gets on pier parking and so LGW was chopped? Probably not....
I have used DUB-LGW and I am sorry it's dropped. Dublin-London is still a huge market and I am surprised they've walked away from LGW once again. (3rd time now at least). They have also flown STN-DUB and more recently LCY-DUB was a grand offering with CityJet in Aer Lingus colours. I wonder if BA moving to DUB T2 was a factor in making sure IAG's LHR flights still gets on pier parking and so LGW was chopped? Probably not....
It's one thing to compete with a low-frequency Ryanair service that goes to an airport at the other end of the route only the Ryanair marketing people believe actually serves the city they say it does - like "Frankfurt" Hahn which is actually closer to Luxembourg than Frankfurt or "Copenhagen West" a.k.a. Malmo, a completely different airport in a neighbouring country, for example - but quite another to compete head-to-head with a high-frequency Ryanair service operating at commonly timed, fairly evenly spread popular times throughout the day operating into the main airport at the other end of the route, especially if Ryanair's frequency is much higher. On Gatwick-Dublin Aer Lingus' four to five times daily service competes with an up to eight times daily Ryanair service. As well, given the vast direct - i.e., non-stop - transatlantic air travel opens from and to London plus the fact that Aer Lingus competes with Icelandair, which tends to have better timed connections (at least as far as Gatwick is concerned), in the one-stop transatlantic air travel market, it doesn't take rocket science to work out why Aer Lingus has thrown in the towel on Gatwick-Dublin.
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LH LGW-FRA loads
Spectator's Balcony is a better place for many of these, they're personal wishlists and don't really add anything to the conversation. Have you guys seen the loads on LGW-FRA? They're dire from what I've seen. Aer Lingus have just canned DUB and BA dropping AMS looks like IAG focussing more on LGW as a differentiator rather than complimenting LHR short haul. KLM are fat for LHR slots so would be unlikely IMHO. I sometimes wonder if even LHR-CDG adds much for Air France nowadays, it's gone all A220 of late so it would be masochistic of AF to undermine that further by opening LGW. They don't even offer LCY anymore either.
Btw is Singapore going North or South?
Btw is Singapore going North or South?
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60[+] years of continuous LGW-AMS BUA / BCal / BA service
I also seem to remember that at the turn of the millennium KLM had taken over Transavia's four daily LGW-AMS rotations. From memory, the service was withdrawn following 9 / 11, bringing to an end KLM's 2nd Gatwick stint (the first being from 1973 to 1974, when at the start of the 1973 summer timetable period KLM had become the first non-UK airline to split its London operations between LHR and LGW; KLM's the 3× daily LGW-AMS service was withdrawn again in 1974, following the quadrupling of jet fuel prices in the wake of the OPEC countries' oil boycott of the West in retaliation for Western support of Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war).
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AI removal of LGW-BLR schedule
Further on the topic of potential new Gatwick-India scheduled services, according to a Bloomberg report, Indigo - India's biggest airline by fleet size, flights and passengers - is mulling placing an order for 30 A350s to expand into long-haul with its own equipment. If Indigo really do this, they can be expected to launch daily flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to London. Given the slot situation at Heathrow and that as a financially responsible airline they'd probably not want to follow in Kingfisher's and Jet Airways' footsteps to pay top dollar for Heathrow slots even before their first long-haul flight to London has left India, they'd probably look to Gatwick instead rather than Stansted (the only other plausible London area airport capable of accommodating a widebody operating non-stop to / from India without payload restrictions). However, given Airbus' growing A350 backlog and lengthening delivery times, I wouldn't expect this to happen before 2026 at the earliest.
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This seems to be part of a wider schedule review at AI as they've not only withdrawn their most recently filed Gatwick-Bengaluru and Delhi-Hanoi schedule listings but have done the same as well re previously listed schedules to Dallas, LA and Seattle. So, as I already said earlier, this appears to be a temporary adjustment driven by staff shortages and supply chain issues. Hopefully, Gatwick-Bengaluru (and the other previously posted schedule updates) will be back on again later during the year.
Further on the topic of potential new Gatwick-India scheduled services, according to a Bloomberg report, Indigo - India's biggest airline by fleet size, flights and passengers - is mulling placing an order for 30 A350s to expand into long-haul with its own equipment. If Indigo really do this, they can be expected to launch daily flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to London. Given the slot situation at Heathrow and that as a financially responsible airline they'd probably not want to follow in Kingfisher's and Jet Airways' footsteps to pay top dollar for Heathrow slots even before their first long-haul flight to London has left India, they'd probably look to Gatwick instead rather than Stansted (the only other plausible London area airport capable of accommodating a widebody operating non-stop to / from India without payload restrictions). However, given Airbus' growing A350 backlog and lengthening delivery times, I wouldn't expect this to happen before 2026 at the earliest.
Further on the topic of potential new Gatwick-India scheduled services, according to a Bloomberg report, Indigo - India's biggest airline by fleet size, flights and passengers - is mulling placing an order for 30 A350s to expand into long-haul with its own equipment. If Indigo really do this, they can be expected to launch daily flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to London. Given the slot situation at Heathrow and that as a financially responsible airline they'd probably not want to follow in Kingfisher's and Jet Airways' footsteps to pay top dollar for Heathrow slots even before their first long-haul flight to London has left India, they'd probably look to Gatwick instead rather than Stansted (the only other plausible London area airport capable of accommodating a widebody operating non-stop to / from India without payload restrictions). However, given Airbus' growing A350 backlog and lengthening delivery times, I wouldn't expect this to happen before 2026 at the earliest.
I do think though the Amritsar service by Air India was well suited to STN in the time it operated. Loads were good and as a heavily VFR targeted route, STN was geographically better placed to that market than LGW. But since they were moving most of their point-to-point routes to India out of LHR it makes total sense why they consolidated at LGW. If the slot situation ever gets to a point at LGW that they cannot add additional capacity such as Bengaluru that they may like, I wouldn't be surprised then to maybe see the Amritsar route go back to STN.
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Target market for AI's Amritsar route
Indigo I believe were close to launching at STN before Covid hit but were planning on running A321neos with a potential stopover. That plan was then dropped in favour of securing wide body aircraft I believe. I agree with that model they'd probably favour LGW, especially with Air India now established there too.
I do think though the Amritsar service by Air India was well suited to STN in the time it operated. Loads were good and as a heavily VFR targeted route, STN was geographically better placed to that market than LGW. But since they were moving most of their point-to-point routes to India out of LHR it makes total sense why they consolidated at LGW. If the slot situation ever gets to a point at LGW that they cannot add additional capacity such as Bengaluru that they may like, I wouldn't be surprised then to maybe see the Amritsar route go back to STN.
I do think though the Amritsar service by Air India was well suited to STN in the time it operated. Loads were good and as a heavily VFR targeted route, STN was geographically better placed to that market than LGW. But since they were moving most of their point-to-point routes to India out of LHR it makes total sense why they consolidated at LGW. If the slot situation ever gets to a point at LGW that they cannot add additional capacity such as Bengaluru that they may like, I wouldn't be surprised then to maybe see the Amritsar route go back to STN.
Of the four routes AI has shifted from LHR to LGW, the one best suited to the LGW catchment is the one to COK (Cochin/ Kochi), the most populous city and the commercial centre of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, also known locally as the Pearl of the Arabian Sea. Many of the VFR passengers frequenting this route actually live and work (mainly in the health care / carehome sectors) relatively close to LGW. And unlike ATQ and GOX (and somewhat similar to AMD), COK isn't all-VFR / a mix of VFR and leisure (mainly Brits with no roots on the Subcontinent); it also has potential to attract a substantial number of business passengers if AI can up the frequency from the current 3× weekly service to daily (or near-daily, at least 5× weekly) and gets the service proposition right which unfortunately hasn't been the case with AI in the past (incl. giving the 787-8s currently serving the route revamped interiors with all the new AI products and positive staff attitudes to match). In this context, some Indian media outlets have reported that AI is going to increase frequencies on LGW-COK from 3× weekly to 4× weekly during the forthcoming summer timetable period, although this has so far nowhere been confirmed by AI (unlike LGW-BLR, where they'd already loaded the schedules on their website but never opened reservations). LGW-AMD could be a similar story to LGW-COK if AI get the frequency and service proposition right as in addition to the currently targeted VFR market - with many of these passengers actually living near LHR as well (similar to the ATQ target market), however, there also being a substantial number of passengers living in Crawley, West Sussex, right on LGW's doorstep (unlike the ATQ target market, where very, very few passengers live in the area around LGW). Similar to COK, AMD is the commercial centre of the western Indian state of Gujarat, one of the most developed in India and home to some of India's biggest industrialists and the birth place and original home of India's PM Narendra Modi. Gujarat is also the centre of India's diamond industry (concentrated in and around the city of Surat, one of three centres of the global diamond trade (the others being Amsterdam and Antwerp, respectively)).
l agree that if AI can no longer expand its LGW presence, they'll probably give STN another look. But, by that time, I'd expect AI to have up to three global hubs in India up and running - at DEL, BOM (probably the upcoming airport at Navi Mumbai / New Bombay due to open later this year rather than the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport as the latter is operated as a single-runway airport like LGW at the moment which makes it difficult to operate a functioning and internationally competitive hub-and-spoke system based around multiple daily banks of flights) and either BLR or HYD, the airports serving Bengaluru and Hyderabad, respectively, the two main IT and high tech centres in the Deccan peninsula of southern India (with my money being on BLR as the bigger and more developed of the two). Given LHR's extremely tight slot situation and my expectation that AI would need to emulate EK if they're serious about implementing a globally competitive hub-and-spoke strategy in India, i.e., serving multiple LON area airports simultaneously as spokes feeding the aforementioned upcoming hubs (like EK feeds its DXB global hub from LON via LHR, LGW and STN simultaneously), in this scenario I'd expect AI to feed at least its DEL and BOM (Navi Mumbai) hubs from both LHR and LGW simultaneously. If then, given a by then extremely tight slot situation at LGW similar to the current slot situation at LHR (especially, if neither LGW's current proposal to bring its northern standby / emergency runway into regular use nor LHR's plan for a fully independent, full-length third runway eventually see the light of day), AI decides to make STN its third LON area airport, I'd expect them to give serious consideration to start flying from STN to BOM (Navi Mumbai), given close links between some of the bio / life sciences companies in Cambridge's Silicon Fenn (for whom STN is their local airport) and their counterparts in the western Indian state of Maharashtra clustered in and around both Mumbai (Maharashtra's commercial centre and state capital) and nearby Pune). Other Indian cities AI could consider serving from STN are MAA (Madras / Chennai), the commercial and political centre of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, another southern Indian IT / high tech and automotive industry centre, and CCU (Calcutta / Kolkata), the commercial and political centre of the northeastern Indian state of West Bengal and the original capital during the Raj, with many of the VFR target market passengers living in London's East End, for whom STN is the most convenient airport. Another aspect in support of AI considering making STN their third LON area airport is if AI wanted to operate all-cargo flights from LON as well as STN is the only LON area airport where airlines can still obtain slots for pure cargo flights (discounting LTN as its relatively short runway is unsuitable for operating non-stop widebody flights to / from India without payload restrictions).
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Has Turkmenistan confirmed moving to Lgw? Only Lhr showing on their site for booking, you would have thought if they are moving in about 2 weeks, Lgw would be showing by now. I know they seem to change plans frequently.
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One of the popular YouTubers flew with Turkmenistan and was saying they are strangely difficult to book with, he went through an agency in Turkey. That could be why flights are not available to purchase through normal channels. The whole country is an oddity, still requiring a Covid test for entry for example. Any car that isn’t white is banned.
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I was watching a report on Turkmenistan and they have what seems like a very good airport at ASB with very few flights and the guy was served what looked like a very good meal in economy. Interesting airline.
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Norse Atlantic Airways launches LAS 3x weekly from 12 September:
https://news.cision.com/norse-atlant...as-ve,c3954206
https://news.cision.com/norse-atlant...as-ve,c3954206
Norse Atlantic Airways is pleased to announce a brand-new route connecting London Gatwick to the captivating city of Las Vegas. Commencing operations on the 12th of September 2024, the airline will offer travellers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the vibrant energy of Las Vegas with three direct weekly flights.