Friend who lives in one of the areas very close to Gatwick said that if they gave him £15k when it starts up he would be more than content and forget about the £1000.

Bet he is not the only one thinking like that.

racedo £15k isn't that much when you consider the possible reduction in house values from noise "blight".

Mate said next door sold, exact same house as his, not in as good condition and if he sold for that price it would "ONLY" have doubled in price in 12 years.

ZB/TCX/TOM Long Haul
 

It is interesting to see how small the ZB and TCX long haul operations have become from LGW this summer, although I realise the former had cut down on long haul a few years back. For a typical week in June/July the schedules are like this:

ZB/MON -

SFB - 2 weekly
TAB - 1 weekly

TCX -

CUN - 2 weekly
HOG - 1 weekly

Admittedly there are a few more flights in the winter with TCX but just 3 weekly flights must be one of their smallest long haul schedules in a very long time from LGW. Their focus on MAN for long haul is quite clear, as there are ~17 weekly flights from there! Meanwhile MON/ZB only have 2 weekly flights to SFB from MAN.

To compare with the above this is Thomson's schedule ex. LGW for a similar week.

AUA - 1 weekly
CUN - 4 weekly
MBA - 1 weekly
MBJ - 2 weekly
MRU - 1 weekly
POP - 1 weekly
PUJ - 2 weekly
PVR - 1 weekly
SFB - 2 weekly

So it seems not all of the charters (yes I know ZB/MON have moved away from that model) have shrunk , although it is interesting to see how routes like SFB have suffered frequency wise against the competition - just 2 flights per week each from TOM/ZB while BA/VS offer 13 each!

Long haul
 

Does anyone know how the new Norwegian long haul routes are selling, with just a few months until the first flights take to the air?

With a seemingly improving economic outlook, could BA eventually respond with some additional long haul capacity at LGW; I wondered if in time the 787 could join their LGW long haul fleet & potentially open up routes that might otherwise not work?

Norwegian - Judging by the fact that their fares are only a little below BA/Virgin currently I'd say they are probably selling well, although please do not quote me on this. I cannot see why they wouldn't be, as Norwegian offer a good product and price, and more importantly they have only launched the flights with quite low frequencies. This technique seems to have worked rather well on their med routes launched last year, so it would be nice to see lightening strike twice!

As for BA it was rumoured that the 12 787-10's on order were destined to replace the LGW based 772's. This would be an increase of ~2 aircraft compared to the current fleet, plus I'd imagine there might be a few more seats on each of these. What would happen with the 4 class routes I'm not sure, to have mixed configurations in a fleet of 12 seems a little impractical. I'd imagine the most likely solution would be to also have a couple of 4 class 789's for BGI/BDA and any other routes that may have some demand for first in the future.

cant see brand new BA 787s at LGW anytime soon -8 or -9's

Having seen the plans for new runway and terminal I am wondering what they will call the new terminal.

They already have North and South Terminals and as new will be South of South Terminal will it be known as the "Deep South Terminal" or the "Beautiful South Terminal" :E

Terminals
 

I heard it's to be called laker terminal,

New terminal name
 

Brighton-Shoreham
:)

Belgrano Terminal :eek:

Perhaps best to use numbers: LGW-1, LGW-2 and LGW-3. A new midfield terminal would present an opportunity to demolish the existing east/south terminal and start over.

Never understood why the east terminal is called "south".

How about historic Crawley International:8

today's "Times" says that BA are to be evicted from the N terminal back to the South and EasyJet & Virgin will replace them

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/easyjet-set-to-rule-the-north-terminal-after-gatwick-deal-9218900.html

Would be Bizzare to EasyJet to kick out BA. Why don't they move Thomson Airways to the South Terminal instead? Or will it still be too Small for EasyJet :)

BA friends have always labelled Sarf Terminal as Charter and Low Cost Land, Chav city on occasions................being moved to there is going to hurt egos.

It does make sense to try and find a way to accommodate all easyJet flights in one terminal but the South Terminal has always had something of an image problem in comparison to the North so BA might not be too happy if they're forced to move?

Apparently it's a done deal, all easyJet ops at LGW will be from North Terminal. I so wonder if BA have accepted the move to South Terminal. 😕

Seems such a shame considering the investment made to the new check in area!

I was under the impression that it would be impossible to fit all Easy ops into either terminal. For the passenger arriving by train the South terminal is actually much better.

North or South
 

"BA friends have always labelled Sarf Terminal as Charter and Low Cost Land, Chav city on occasions................being moved to there is going to hurt egos".

Historically that was true, sadly the North Terminal airside has gone downhill, whereas the South Terminal has massively improved both Landside and Airside.
As a passenger who uses the train to reach LGW, South wins hands down.
At least there will be an end to easy flights deplaning at the 'wrong terminal' with the passengers being bussed back to the correct terminal with all the discomfort and extra delay, this has happened to me a number of times and seriously Pxxxxd me off.
We have had charter flights at the North terminal for enough years that the 'executive club' image has long been dispelled since the days when it was prevalent in the early 1990s.

I have used both Terminals in the last few months. As it happens, South Terminal, now refurbished, boasts a large, and I mean large Harrods outlet etc and is generally super smart with quick security facilities to match. So, BA moving there is not necessarily bad news for their travelling pax?

I've not used South Terminal for a while so that's good to hear.

So will North Terminal be just for easyJet or will there be others; I presume Emirates will stay as A380 gates are there?

Oh I don't disagree with that statement, it is those who have listened for years to some BA staff smugly slagging off South Terminal as Chav City.

BA at LGW North
 

I just feel a little sorry when I think back to a documentary on TV in the last 2-3 years when a particularly forthright BA (female) executive at LGW North was espying with glee her brand new dedicated BA check in area..... Ah well, times move on!

the article said that Virgin might also be in N Terminal

I guess Virgin would need to move too. BA have sufficient long haul aircraft to mean that accommodating both in the same terminal would be nigh on impossible

Eight BA B777s on the satellite and five VS on Pier 2, not impossible but busy even with EZY gone.

Plus a couple of Air Transat and the occasional ZB/TCX 330, not to mention fitting the shorthaul fleet for each in (although it would mostly be BA, ZB/TCX only really have 2 'waves' of departures).

easyJet ops @ Gatwick will be consolidated at North Terminal. Will be complete within 2 years. Aligned with a new commercial agreement between LGW and easyJet - long term agreement. Agreed this week.

A lot of traffic used to be bussed from the 130s and 140s, the based BA short haul fleet is pretty small with a good 1/3 based away over night and most of the over nighters would be gone before the bulk of the long haul BA B777s arrive. It's going to be 1988 again one more time :O)

Based on flightradar24 A6-EDZ is flying towards LGW right now.

Now that's interesting !
Last minute aircraft sub or intended A380 rotation ?


cs

Its the first day today of the evening flight( EK9/10) being operated by the A380:):)
the other 2 flights EK11/12 and EK15/16 are staying with a 777 for the time being
Cant wait to see that tonight:)

Reported landing time is now 19.41..............

Thanks...as we have 8R at the mo...will watch it depart in the dark:)

A historic day for EGKK and UEA.

A very significant day indeed for LGW, receiving its first scheduled A380 flight. Hopefully there'll be other A380 flights serving Gatwick in the years to come.

Skipness


BA short haul fleet this summer will be vary from 22 to 25 units (Highest number July and August) Of these only 4 will stop away overnight. Maybe another 4 or so on average will be early hours arrivals.


V.

Glad the A380 will be at LGW. Would love to see more heavies there just like old days!