RE. Scoot- they should be resuming LGW towards the end of March? I was speaking with one of their agents just a couple of weeks ago, and he confirmed Scoot would be back at LGW North Terminal, unless things have changed since then?

RE. China Airlines- Gatwick is still listing them as operating from the South Terminal when it reopens. I thought they hadn't been granted S22 slots at LHR?

It is a shame though. LGW had a really nice and diverse mix of long haul pre 2020/pandemic, and it's very sad seeing how reduced it has become, as LGW has become a great airport under GIP ownership. Granted, we've had some new entrants (JetBlue, Scoot) and BA are building their LGW operation back up again to similar pre-Covid levels, but at the same time, the airport has undoubtably lost a large chunk (Virgin Atlantic- although rumoured to be returning- Cathay Pacific, Air China, China Eastern, Rwandair, Norwegian). I am hopeful that the airport will be able to work hard to attract some of this back, and hopefully LGW long-haul can be rebuilt.

According to the following press release, Norse Atlantic have secured x2 six-weekly slot pairs at LGW; routes are yet to be confirmed, but flights are expected to take-off later in the summer.

Wouldn't they need a UK (or American...) licence to operate to the States?

They applied for a UK AOC in Dec 2021.

Voldemort shall be raised from the dead and return

LGW socials announcing ‘routes to be announced’ on FlyNorse.
It never worked first time…

Qatar Airways resumes Doha from 5th June with daily B788
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/pres...Press-releases

New Routes with Easyjet

Rennes
Limoges
Prishtina
Köln/Bonn

4 TUI ACMI aircraft will also operate from the South Terminal this summer, so now we have both EZY and TUI split between the two. Not sure why they haven’t just moved TUI to the South, especially with all the widebody stands that have been vacated by Norwegian available for the 787s.

Maybe TUI do not want to go. Previously the 4 aircraft TUI wet leased from Norwegian during summers up to 2019 also operated from South so no real change. Those so called spare stands will be well used by the increased presence of Wizzair, EasyJet and Vueling. I don’t think they have to be used only by wide bodies.

It’s not as simple as who “wants” to go where. If an airport is at capacity then they go where the airport tells them to. Given that TUI don’t own any facilities in the North Terminal, there’s nothing keeping them there. I don’t think either easy or TUI “want” to have a split operation either.

And no they don’t have to be used by widebodies. But only one widebody stand on Pier 2 has the ability to be split for use by two narrow bodies. The majority of the North Terminal stands can be.

This also causes problems with early long haul arrivals into North requiring two morning departures to have vacated their stands instead of just one.

The airport is not at capacity by a long way since the pandemic. TUI have operated from North for many years. As I said the ACMI based aircraft for TUI have been based in South before so no real issue. You are seeing an issue where there is really nothing to see. With 79 based aircraft it is no wonder EasyJet have to split their operation in the same way as BA has to at Heathrow between terminals 3 and 5.

I also think the split for EasyJet is due to the pattern of their operating ‘waves’ . These cause certain bulges during the day. To some extent TUI compliment them with longer average sector lengths and several long hauls a day. (a bit like Virgin did up to 2019)
In South most but not all BA long hauls will be gone by about 1400 which leaves capacity there.

All that aside I am looking forward to BA short haul returning in a more meaningful way and the re-opening of South Terminal in general. Also hoping to be able to I use the BA lounge again.
Overall it should be a positive summer for Gatwick which it needs after two awful years.
Best wishes to all the staff both old and new atGatwick in whatever capacity they work both for the months ahead.

If the current schedule sticks then the airport will be at capacity this summer, in terms of aircraft movements and first wave stand occupation.

The difference before was that the TUI Norwegian flights were Norwegian flights with Norwegian flight numbers operating out the same terminal as every other Norwegian flight. Now they’re TUI flights, with TUI flight numbers split between two different terminals. TUI re-number these flights with BY5/BAL flight numbers, which causes all sorts of operational issues with flight planning and ATC. And as there are very few, if any, destinations that’ll be solely operated by ACMI, there is the inconvenience and confusion to passengers departing from one terminal and returning to another.

TUI and EZY have almost identical wave patterns out of LGW, so instead of having 12 EZY/TOM aircraft based at South, you’d have 13 TOM aircraft instead.

If it’s “finding a problem where there isn’t one”, why were BA and VS forced to go through the rigmarole of swapping terminals, including moving their own business class lounges, to allow EZY to operate under one roof before?

I’m sorry but the Norwegian aircraft that operated for TUI used the flights designator BY. Agreed they operated from South as did all Norwegian flights. BA and VS swapped terminals because the VS pattern complimented the EZY pattern. Also at the time the BA short haul wave had expanded significantly up to 2017.
You know for certain that passengers will departing from on terminal and arriving at another? I suspect that most holidaymakers will be on 7 or 14 night trips in peak summer. Even if terminals are different it’s not that much of a bother at Gatwick.
When the initial swap took place on 2017 EasyJet had 19 fewer aircraft based at Gatwick.

The Norwegian flights used D89xxx. The flights only became BY5 when Norwegian pulled out due to their own Max shortage and the flights were taken over by Smartlynx and Titan (and then often sub chartered back to TUI)

Not sure what the point of this back and forth is. TUI will have 9 short haul aircraft based in the North that start and finish the day there. easyJet will have 8 aircraft based at the South that will start and finish the day there. Neither TUI or easy will want a split operation. Not saying there isn’t a reason why they didn’t just move TUI across, I’m just intrigued to know what it is.

Well it has been an interesting discussion. Thanks for replying to me. Have a good weekend.

One week until South Terminal re-opens. Looking forward to it.

I have a holiday booked with TUI, the confirmation e-mail states that my flight will be operated by Titan Airways using the BY flight designator, they will also op from the South Terminal, so presume this will be the ACMI for the whole of summer 2022.

Looks like it hasn’t gone too well since they did some PR this morning for the grand reopening. Multiple delays across both terminals, reportedly not enough staff across everything. Baggage not being offloaded, steps not available etc. Perhaps fortunate the Easter rush is a little later this year, if they can get new starters online by then.

MAN,LGW,LHR and DUB all reporting the same operational issues. There’s no quick fix I’m afraid.

JetBlue are adding daily flights to Boston from 19th July 2022

Does anyone have any information on what Virgin have done with their Gatwick slots for Summer 2022?
In Summer 2021 they returned 52 (26 pairs) weekly leased slots to Norwegian. Is this ongoing for Summer 2022, especially, with the 70/30 slot rule this summer? Do they still have any of their own?
British Airways dealt with the issue by leasing a total of 25 daily slot pairs to Vueling and EasyJet for Summer 2022. They are usingup to 54 slot pairs daily themselves this summer.

Passed through Gatwick South on 17 April (Easter Sunday). Arrived at 0610 by taxi and TWO other cars in the drop off zone. The place was deserted, went straight through customs, staff very friendly some just chatting, nothing to do. Some outlets not open and only two places to eat. Flew Iberia Express although it should have been BA ( only used BA because I had a voucher which needed to be used). Flight average but nearly full.
What a difference at Malaga very busy and a lot warmer.
Prices in Spain have gone up but by no means as UK with diesel still some 15p a litre cheaper than UK. Restaurants seem to have slightly reduced portions and no increase and where not possible increased a bit.
Return on 26th Malaya very busy with flight on time.
One reminder make sure get your passport stamped on departure as you are only allowed to stay 90 days in any given 180 days whereas before you could stop 180 days in any given 360. One result of Brexit
Looks like Gatwick has a long way to go before being back to 'normal'.

Appears to be a one-stop flight now. Or maybe one-change. Website indicates an almost four hour wait at Montreal.

EDIT 4/5/22: Non stop flights now showing on the Air Transat booking engine.

I see this detail from the website travelmole dot com "Air Transat this month launches two routes from London to Quebec.

This week it relaunched its popular route from London Gatwick to Montreal for the first time since 2019.

Air Transat will initially offer three flights a week before ramping up to a daily service by the middle of summer.

On 12 May, Air Transat will launch the UK’s first non-stop Quebec City flight with a weekly service from London Gatwick.

In addition, Air Transat has increased its London Gatwick to Toronto service from three times a week to daily, with plans to fly twice daily by mid-summer."

That's where I saw the link, but on Air Transat website couldn't see any non stops.

EDIT 4/5/22: Non stop flights now showing on the Air Transat booking engine.

3 weeks on and North Terminal was pretty busy today. Flights about 80% of 2019 but there seems a significant up tick in pax numbers compared with the last time I was here (April). Security last month was a nightmare, queued out of terminal building, took about an hour. Today is much better organised, staff shouting instructions, took 5 mins to get through.

your experience may have been partly due to south terminal reopened two weeks before and hence serving few flights.

I had a very positive experience through Gatwick South Terminal two weeks ago. Smooth check-in and friendly efficient security. Excellent special assistance for my mother too. Return trip last week also positive, no queues at passport control and quick baggage reclaim. Great to be flying from Gatwick again.

Love this prank...
I'm sure it causes no issues for flight crew, but will sends passengers into a state of panic!
:)
ITV News - 'Welcome to Luton' prank leaves Gatwick airport arrivals in 'state of panic'

Virgin Atlantic
 

I'm noticing something strange on the LGW departure board today. There are about 4 flights listed under VS pre-Covid flight numbers (e.g. VS33, 27, 29, 65) to Antigua, Orlando, Bridgetown and Montego Bay, all of which are from VS' former base in the North Terminal. Is this some kind of internal error or an indication that VS are seriously looking into reinstating LGW operations sooner than originally planned? (IIRC, the CEO was quoted as saying that a return to LGW would not happen until next year at the earliest). Regardless, I'd love to see VS (and hopefully DL) back at LGW. Are there any other long haul developments in the pipeline for Gatwick?

I am of the opinion that is is an error. These flights maybe those which Virgin had the slots for if they had returned to Gatwick.
The CEO made it quite clear a few weeks ago that Virgin had no plans to run to Gatwick in 2022. Very non committal for 2023 too. In fact they may find it hard to ever come back if BA continue to expand their Caribbean and North American routes, plus Norse International setting up shop. Personally I believe with Heathrow becoming more expensive they may lose some of their competitive edge when trying to attract some of their former Gatwick leisure customers back who may be more price sensitive. However that’s just a personal view
Pre-Covid they were sending up to 5 or 6 wide bodies a day to leisure destinations from Gatwick. Not all of that market will follow them to Heathrow. BA is maintaining double daily to Orlando for example from Gatwick this Summer plus another daily from Heathrow. Their Caribbean flights are very profitable too. Plus somewhere like Cancun is now daily year round which is an increase from 2019.
I would like to know what Virgin have done with their Gatwick slots. We know that BA have leased some of theirs out until they are required again but I can see nothing concerning Virgin. Have they simply given them up? I have asked on several other forums but no information has been forthcoming.

I was also wondering about the VS slots. I wonder if given their relationship with MAG they have STN as an option for leisure if/when they need to use their LHR portfolio more productively.

I am not convinced that former Gatwick customers would journey to STN.

Stansted long haul is relatively much weaker vs. Gatwick which is a country mile weaker than Heathrow. They've already stated they see a return to LGW, although words mean little in such a fluid marketplace.

That’s going nowhere.

I see from their website that Norse Atlantic has 2 routes on sale now from Lgw, New York and Oslo, daily flights to each. Is the Oslo route just a slot sitter?

At the moment it looks like a positioning flight which they are selling tickets for.

Reading elsewhere that apparently Fort Lauderdale will be the second LGW to US route. JFK starts 12th August.