moving North to South was never on BA’s radar nor something they ever aspired towards.

EZY combining their operations into one terminal caused it to happen. North was the only terminal that could accommodate EZY and in turn no room for both BA and EZY in the North.

BA have made a good fist of it and as mentioned above I think it feels from like home than the North ever did, lovely lounges too. Big sweeteners were offered by GAL to BA as part of the move.

in my view, looking back, the move was a good move for BA, even though it’s not one they ever wanted or planned for.

wallp

nothing set in stone but the wheels are in motion

Those big bribes were absolutely necessary . BA had no incentive to mix with the plebs otherwise !

Boeing Freighter conversion line
 

Boeing has just announced that it is going to add a B737-800 freighter conversion line to its Gatwick MRO facility in 2022.

Thats great investment. Good to diversify.

Virgin Atlantic returning to LGW?
 

The Times is reporting that VS is considering returning to LGW as early as S22, on the back of a surge in demand for travel between London-USA. The article reports that VS have confirmed that the case of LGW resumption "is a case of when and not if". I'm just wondering how likely this is? If they are planning on returning to LGW, I'm guessing the first routes to transfer down from LHR would be MCO along with the Caribbean flying programme that was historically based at LGW, in order to free up slots at LHR? I wonder what a/c they'd operate from LGW if they do make a come back?

I think you are exactly right. My guess would be the new leisure configuration A350s, which are coming from December. There are supposed to be 5 of them in total, essentially a 1:1 replacement for the 747s. Expect A330s to feature as well. The leisure configuration A350s are starting out on MCO and then going to the Caribbean from next year.

Sounds like a reminder to HAL not to jack up the fees too high. BA will be saying the same.
Pre COVID VS were 5-6 daily B744/A330 but they're a smaller airline now trying to hang onto their existing LHR slot portfolio.
Now do know if the Virgin Lounge is still in situ as was or was it stripped out?

Will HAL really care if Sir Beardie throws his toys out of the pram and has a tantrum on TV ? They've got CAA clearance to raise their fees, and if a modest number of Disney flights go to Gatwick, will it really be that big a loss compared to being able to charge big bucks to everyone else ?

Well when the whole industry is on it's knees and HAL is trying to pay for a massive infrastructure expansion, suddenly LGW looks a lot more attractive. As I said, British Airways aren't going to be happy either which IMHO explains their determination to maintain short haul at LGW. And as you well know, it's not SRB calling the operational day to day shots anymore at VS.

VS
 

brian_dromey

Second you, It certainly would make strategic sense to allocate the leisure-heavy A350s to LGW (as originally intended for direct 744 replacements) for the MCO services. Plus some of the A333s could be stationed to do the thinner Caribbean flying, as the last two A330-200s are on their way out. After all the blows LGW has taken over the last 2 years, it would be lovely to see VS back at LGW. Their (potential) return to Gatwick is now being reported elsewhere on other sites, so perhaps indicates a decision will be made shortly? I suspect a lot of this is being driven by slot utilisation rules possibly reverting back to pre-Covid measures for S22, along with fees being hiked up at LHR. For an airline that narrowly avoided bankruptcy, perhaps the decision to reinstate their LGW base for leisure routes will be a good one going forward. No doubt GIP will be thrilled with this!

Skipness One Foxtrot

What massive infrastructure expansion at Heathrow ? No new runway, T1 derelict, T4 uncertain whether it's to be mothballed long term or not ... the only massive expansion is in the scooping up of the landing charges by the Spanish investors.

So Virgin business at LHR and leisure routes at LGW.

Again !

Shame they :mad: on all their LGW staff and numerous crew in the interlude.

Quite, they aren’t alone.

we (could) end up for summer 22 with some VS leisure, BA longhaul and short haul at LGW all looking quite similar to 2019

Yes that would be really good for LGW

Emirates back to 3 flights a day too would be good 😉

Maybe the increased LHR landing fees will send a few more airlines here

WHBM

T1's closed it's not derelict. The piers 3 and 4 have been demolished as has the EuroPier, it's not exactly Gaza. You really think LHR won't be at capacity by the end of next summer? You genuinely think this madness is going to drag onto the three year mark? Runway 3 has passed the Supreme Court, so now it's a funding matter and the local planning permission saga. As for T4 being closed long term, with traffic being forecast to bounce back to the extent Virgin need to re-open LGW as they'll be using their LHR portfolio to it's full extent, I'm not so sure. Huge pent up demand and many people sitting on cash mountains having no commute to pay for means travel will snap back with a vengeance. The balance sheets will all take longer to recover!

And if HAL do ramp up fees, then weakened carriers may have no option but to move to LGW. In every crisis lies opportunity!

I agree that if LHR do ramp up fees some LHR airlines will find Gatwick more competitive. In the medium term BA Gatwick long haul may be back to 15 based 777s, especially if Virgin do return and others give Gatwick a try.

Don't forget STN and LTN still exist too. Whilst LGW is the next obvious go to after LHR, all the airports will be pitching for potential new and switching carriers I'm sure.

One thing is for sure and that's the airports are going to have to be ruthlessly competitive with one another, at least they ought to be if they want a chance of building back business.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...ondon-stansted
Looks like Norse Atlantic may end up at Stansted!
Would it not be in Gatwick's commercial best interests to make this happen for Norse? Am not an expert on slot allocation (or anything frankly!) but how much leeway does an airport operator have here?

Pretty much none as the slots are dished out by their contracted partner ACL who have rules and governance around being seen to be squeaky clean in their application.

Would anyone know the planned start date for the works for the northern runway project?

"The Applicant has not yet set a timetable for this project."

Gatwick Airport Northern Runway | National Infrastructure Planning (planninginspectorate.gov.uk)

The current consultation ends on December 1st. Northern Runway and our Future Plans | Gatwick Airport LGW

So not anytime soon is the answer, I suppose. If at all.

Reading the consultation document - because I really ought to contribute as a user and neighbour of the airport - the Secretary of State's decision is scheduled for 2024, with 2029 as a possible in-service date.

Looking at the online flight schedule, Emirates brings back EK09/10 from 27th January with daily B77W.
https://www.emirates.com/de/german/b...220124/220201/

Can anyone confirm if the 'night before' check in is open for BA ops?
Thanks.

no it isn’t

Thanks 772!

Scoot Airlines LGW
 

Has the inaugural LGW-BKK been delayed? IIR, I think this was scheduled for the 16th, but no flight appears to be running on that day?

Could BA use the Emirates A380 Gates for their A380, or are there technical incompatability issues?

All gates are common usage at LGW, there's no reason BA can't use the A380 gate unless, perhaps Emirates part funded the upgrade and get first refusal?

JW95

There booking engine shows it arrives LGW 20:15 so assume out back to BKK next day.

Dumb question. ("Why are we not surprised?")

Given the rules on runway over runs and undershoots, is the idea to use 26R/08L more a good idea? My first visit to LGW was the day in 1993 when Continental B747 nearly hit the South Terminal, we heard the go-around from the viewing deck, and my one landing on 26R it caught me by surprise that we flew over the old Pier 1. Isn't that sort of layout frowned upon in 2021 aviation safety? The new Pier 1 actually stares down what will be an active runway.

Thoughts?

What’s to be frowned upon? Aside from the fact that the runway is used somewhat regularly at nights anyway, all obstructions are taken into account in performance calculations, which are themselves based on worst case scenarios + fat.

I’d imagine it would only be used for 26R departures and 08L arrivals anyway. Westerlies is fairly straight forward, Easterlies could be a bit more difficult logistically, hence capacity won’t be increased to the level of a normal two runway airport.

BA has announced it's Lgw operations for S22 this morning. Up to 35 routes and 17 aircraft.

.....initially (according to the press release) to be operated by BA mainline until the new offshoot "BA Euroflyer" has it's AOC, "later in 2022"

no great surprises in route announcements BAef Ex LGW… except maybe ATH?

Why would BA want a gate for their A380… what route did you have in mind? Unless all the LAS MCO LHR shift condensed back at LGW.

BA short haul aircraft will be 18 based aircraft by May 2022 according to their press release. Interestingly a similar number of A321 aircraft remain in storage, although they may be too large for some routes.
BA long haul next Summer at Gatwick could be 11 or 12 frames next Summer too. So once again a decent presence at Gatwick. South Terminal hopefully be up and running. I believe discussions about this are proceeding. Be good
to use the BA lounges again!

British Airways
 

This is brilliant news for LGW RE. BA EuroFlyer and a welcome return of based short haul to the airport after over 2 years away. Looks like a nice range of routes there too with MXP (presumably replacing BGY), MAD, ATH coming in as new additions for LGW, hopefully they will work well in tandem with the LHR services. I also note that JFK is scheduled to be reinstated from 28th May next year and is now bookable on BA, so no doubt this will serve up as interesting competition for JetBlue on the route. With this news, no doubt South Terminal is being readied for a reopening? Congratulations to both BA and LGW and I hope that this will mark the return of more airlines and routes to Gatwick.