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.