Have just been reading on another site that QR are rumoured to have been granted daily slots at LGW from March next year... The slots are for a 06:45 arrival and 08:45 departure and the flights are rumoured to be going to be operated by a A350....

Has anyone else heard anything?..

In that article it states IAG airlines rather than British Airways operating the flights if they occurred but I have to question as to why couldn't it be British Airways operating to Eilat which I personally think would be an ideal addition to the British Airways network especially with the forthcoming opening of the new airport at Eilat and the growth in future tourism to the area.

Royal Jordanian Airlines operate various charter flights throughout Europe from Aqaba which is just around the coast from Eilat and that's another destination and airline I am surprised hasn't announced any expansion to LGW.

Good news if the forthcoming announcement regarding Qatar making a return to LGW comes true as the planned flight schedule has obviously been made public.

Qatar have applied for slots for a double-daily 787 operation, but haven't got the slots they need. However, given the commercial and ownership ties with IAG who have just been dumped back with the Ryanair Belfast slots, you don't need the brains of an Archbishop to see how their slots may be generated.

But those slots previously used by Ryanair from LGW to BFS are remedy slots involved when IAG took over Aer Lingus and although they have returned to IAG I believe they are only to be used from LGW to either Belfast airport and not reallocated to another destination.

With the loss of Monarch I am sure there are enough slots available if Qatar decided to operate twice daily into LGW which I find hard to believe as I would assume at least a daily flight initially.

Have you seen fares on the new routes from Europe to Eilat? Ryanair has 10 euros flat for any day be it tommorow or in two months time on many of them (ok, exagerating a little bit, but the point stands). And these are very long flights.
I do not think it is possible to make money on them even with generous subsidies from Israel side.

With far greater awareness of Eilat and with the help of the Israeli Tourism I am sure a prestige name such as British Airways would benefit the local tourism, if advertised well a flight or holiday in Eilat could be no different than taking a similar trip from the United Kingdom to the Canary Islands.

On a side note you mention Ryanair but Ryanair don't offer any direct flights from the United Kingdom to Israel let alone Eilat so you can't really use them as an example, in comparison have you not seen how flights are fairly expensive from London to Tel Aviv.

As long as no-one else wants them to fly to Belfast, IAG can use the slots for whatever it wishes. The slots are only ring-fenced to the Belfast route if used by another operator like Ryanair. Same as the LHR situation - between Little Red finishing and Flybe starting, there wasn't a huge influx of BA frequency on EDI + ABZ - they simply used the slots on any route of their choosing.

Does anyone know why BA2722 LGW-JFK was cancelled today?

Reported elsewhere as tech aircraft.

If Qatar do return, would that tempt Etihad back?

Will the 4th daily service from Emirates ever start, or is it dead in the water?

I wouldn't say 'dead in the water' regarding the forth DXB flight from EK I am sure once traffic picks up again we're eventually see a 4th daily flight but I think it will be a while before that is announced.

EY are actually shrinking some of their worldwide destinations and they are not the fittest of the ME3 so I can't see them resuming LGW up against EK and the possible resumption of QR.

The rumours or news regarding QR returning to LGW has gone rather quiet, has there been anything officially confirmed yet!

Not that I have seen.

Thanks. I notice it's cancelled again today!

What are the chances of BA or possibly one of the others starting a Belgrade service? Seems strange that almost all the main cities in that part of the world (Tirana, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sofia, Bucharest even Pristina etc) are served from Gatwick and not Belgrade.

Up until last summer Air Serbia did offer a limited service from LGW to Belgrade but all flights are now consolidated at LHR.

I don't think that the demand is there for BA to fly to Belgrade either from LGW or LHR and Air Serbia have it covered from LHR.

No Zagreb from LGW anymore as EasyJet ceased flying the route about two years ago.

As far as demand goes on a personal side I have been to every European capital bar from Belgrade and Pristina.

Of course if you really wanted to fly to Belgrade and Pristina you could fly from Luton, but that is a no-no for you Canberra so hard cheese!

Oh yes as you are fully aware LTN is a definite no-no for me.

Not really hard cheese Compton3bravo because if and when I do eventually get to go to Belgrade I can always fly with Air Serbia from LHR and you can also buy seat only on the Germania charter flights from LGW to Pristina so again avoiding LTN altogether so not really 'hard cheese' after all.

IAG/British Airways Awarded Monarch's Slots at LGW...
 

Looks like we'll be seeing IAG and British Airways expanding at Gatwick...
BA owner IAG 'secures Monarch's Gatwick slots' - BBC News

They have beaten easyJet and Norwegian to get Monarch's old slots.

Does anyone know how many slots that is?

I think they use to base about 8-9 aircraft at Gatwick, so if the aircraft were flying 2-3 return sectors a day that will about 16-24 landing/take-off sets...

Be interesting to see how they are allocated, could they go to BA or maybe grow Vueling more at the airport.

I wonder if we could see IAG start low cost/long haul operation from LGW, with a few aircraft, maybe with the Level brand. Maybe transfers a few 777-200's in a high density configuration?

Copy of my post from Monarch thread.

The BA brand at Gatwick is strong particularly the Holidays division. I expect BA will use a lot of the slots. BA have a few airbus deliveries next year. Easy enough to keep older ones longer than expected. Don't forget there are also 30 or so ex monarch aircraft seeking new homes. Perhaps a couple more 777s based at LGW too. Level have two aircraft at the moment with another 3 due but also proposed new bases in mainland Europe. I also believe BA long haul from m Gatwick makes good money already. Other airlines in the group may use some of them. However for the time being I think BA at Gatwick will use most of them.