Thanks for the nice reply. Once again both in agreement 🤝

Regarding further British Airways B777s making their way to LGW from LHR. I'm curious to what new long haul destinations British Airways would consider from LGW with additional B777s.

It's a difficult one to answer in my opinion but it'll be quite interesting nonetheless. After all I don't think that the majority of us on here ever expected British Airways to announce Aruba. Perhaps a return to Mahe in the Seychelles. Maybe even Saint Maarten considering that they announced Aruba. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on possible future long-haul destinations for British Airways from LGW.

Contrary to what has been said earlier, Cathay are only currently bookable at 4 x daily LHR-HKG next summer with quite a few A359s in the mix, so still well down on 5 x daily B77Ws.
BA are in an odd position with saying that LGW long haul has no plans for Club Suites, so growth either comes from a sub fleet of Club Suite fitted ex LHR machines or some refit of the the three oddball machines with 14F seats in G-VIIV/W/Y. LGW fleet is now dedicated at 10 airframes all with old Club World.
G-VIIO G-VIIP G-VIIR G-VIIT G-VIIU G-VIIX C32W52Y252 = 336
G-YMMA G-YMMB G-YMMC G-YMMD G-YMME G-YMMF C32W52Y252 = 332

Gatwick needs 12 777s for the current schedule. Two Heathrow 777s with Club Suites will rotate through Gatwick during the winter as the Gatwick 777s have maintenance at Cardiff.

There are 12 dedicated Gatwick 777s not 10.

I listed 12 above, quite right, 10 was a brain fart.
My point about Club Suite stands though.

I think they're still rejigging/finalising the S24 schedules and a/c for LHR-HKG, so this is more than likely to change from the current 77W/A359 mix.

It was 5 x B77W bookable recently though, demand remains softened I believe.

Anyone in the know… What was the deal with the BAW9170 LGW-MNL on the A380 this morning?

A rather unusual routing and aircraft for BA at Gatwick.

I think the A380 was down to best departure time for slots in to Manilla. The 0200 approx departure would nt be able to operate ex LHR.

Aircraft was enroute to Manila for maintenance. It goes via Gatwick to avoid the Heathrow curfew. It left Gatwick about 0230 to arrive in Manila at the permitted time.
This routing has been used several times before. The crew taking the aircraft out are expected to bring back the A380 already there that has completed maintenance.

They most certainly are,BA9171 G-LXEA is on its way back to LHR as I type

Has anybody here tried out the new rail station concourse ? Would be interested to hear opinions from those who fly regularly and are able to speak freely without any conflict-of-interest, and not having to worry about an employer, editorial influence or blog audience.

The railway community have good things to say. It will be interesting to see if pprune agrees.

I have to say its a much welcomed improvement!

There's still areas that could be iimprovedupon further and seemingly some ongoing finishing off works, as to be expected these days. But overall, it's better. I feel there could be increased signage at certain points along the platforms - to aid arriving customers and create a better continuous flow up out onto the concourse. That's just an observation though. Mainly because the majority of people passing through here are not regulars. We all know people lose any sense of direction and mind as soon as they're in the vicinity of an airport! :}

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-67473995

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/2393...ns-passengers/

have pictures - looks alot better

£249m for a Station upgrade, makes Luton Airport Parkway good value for money with an automated people carrier to the terminal which the travel costs will help to recover build costs. Has Gatwick Airport chipped in for the costs?

The difference here being that Gatwick Airport doesn’t need a people mover, because it actually has an onsite train station that’s a great deal more convenient.

My point was paid for by Dft. I know through trains benefit as well but seems a hugh amount of money.

Regarding the cost, are you actually aware of all the works involved. It's not just the new station concourse. I suggest that you search online to find the information regarding what else was done. For example there is plenty of information on the Network Rail website.

Air Algerie has Alg on sale from the start of S24 daily.

Sean M reporting Easy returning 90 weekly slots back to BA for summer 2024

Yes only leased, hopefully a more stable program next summer then.

What is the reason that BA can operate these flights in peak summer in a stable manner, but that Easyjet cannot ? Whoever operates an A320, it needs the same gate time, same slot usage, same ATC, and BA seem to be very short of crew. Not trying to be snide... just genuinely wondering what Easyjet were doing wrong that BA do better for operational reliability

As BA are taking back 90 slots and have stated that they will be increasing the number of based aircraft at Lgw, should we not be seeing either new routes or increased frequencies soon to fill those extra slots?

For the winter BA Euroflyer are self sufficient in crew and aircraft. Training for both flight crew and cabin crew in preparation for Summer 2024 is underway.
The current BA Euroflyer schedule for Summer 2024 requires at least 22 aircraft. 21 should be in place or accounted for by January. (the 10 A32 G-GATx series aircraft and 11 A321 ceo aircraft) I envisage additional aircraft will be transferred from mainline as further A320neo and A321neo aircraft are delivered to Heathrow.
As I said above the schedule at the moment needs 22 aircraft with 21 already accounted for. Only 18/19 aircraft were required in Summer 2023 including the Avion Express aircraft. By next summer BA Euroflyer should have 22 of their own aircraft.

ATC issues at Gatwick again this morning, no departures for an hour apparantly and inbounds 7 or 8 times around the racetrack.
Someone off sick with 'covid' again?

No - technical issue.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/12/09/gatwi...ours-19950841/

More chance of winning the lottery than being on time arriving or departing Gatwick. If heads didn't roll last time then they need to now.

I can confidently predict that, if heads roll, it will be deputy heads.:}

I see flights for TAAG are appearing in the arrivals and departures information. It was rumored some weeks back that they were launching, wonder what the delay is?

It wasn't rumoured, it was confirmed by TAAG. Lots of links online if you search TAAG Angola Airlines London.

TAAG Angola Airlines were supposed to start Luanda to London Gatwick on the 14 December 2023.

There are no flights showing on flightradar. There are no flights showing on the TAAG website. TAAG Angola Airlines was also removed from the London Gatwick Wikipedia page.

I posed the question a couple of weeks ago on here regarding TAAG Angola Airlines. Have TAAG Angola Airlines delayed starting their Luanda to LGW route.

Although the flights might be appearing on the London Gatwick arrivals and departures I don't think that the route actually started as planned on the 14 December 2023.

Hopefully TAAG Angola Airlines haven't fully abandoned their plans to start Luanda to London Gatwick.

On a side note but connected to another African national carrier.

With Air Tanzania losing their application for slots at LHR for the IATA 2024 summer season one can only assume that they will operate into LGW instead.

Air Tanzania had previously stated their intention to serve London in Q2 2024 after the airline received it's third Boeing 788. Prior to the covid pandemic Air Tanzania had obtained slots at LGW for three weekly flight's from Dar Es Salaam commencing in June 2020. The LGW slots have since lapsed, hence the recent slot requests at LHR, which were unsuccessful.

If Air Tanzania and TAAG Angola Airlines do eventually start flying to LGW that will mean that more African carriers serve the airport than at LHR.

African carriers at LGW.

Air Algérie
Air Arabia Maroc
Air Mauritius
Air Tanzania?
Ethiopian Airlines
Nouvelair
Royal Air Maroc
TAAG Angola Airlines?
Tunisair

African carriers at LHR.

Air Algérie
Egyptair
Ethiopian Airlines
Kenya Airways
Royal Air Maroc
Rwandair
Tunisair

Hopefully the Gatwick slot report for Summer 2024 will be out in the next few days. It could be interesting seeing that several airlines were disappointed by their slot allocations at Heathrow. Some airlines receiving none of their requested increases and others no slots at all.

Singapore Airlines launching 5 weekly flights at Gatwick from June 2024:

Well if a quality airline like SQ is prepared to come to Lgw, maybe Lgw is finally losing it's image as the bucket and spade airport so loved by some.

The bucket and spade image went out years ago. Those who jest about bucket and spade clearly have never flown at LGW outside the summer peak. Best to leave the old farts with an image from 30 years ago to wallow in the past and reminisce about WW2 (although the war probably ended before they were born). Those who live in the present know differently.

Yes its been quite a year with the arrival of Air India, Air Mauritius, Saudi and Ethiopian. Plus of course three airlines from China. Now Singapore airlines from June 2024.
Delta Gatwick to New York is also open for bookings next summer. I wonder if Cathay are pondering a return too.

There's nothing whatsoever wrong with "bucket and spade". :)
Very interesting move by Singapore going after market share, the timings are broadly aligned aligned with the existing A380 and B77W morning rotations at LHR, albeit the LGW A359 won't have First. Interesting that the airline that launched the A380 is moving away from that model towards multiple frequencies on a smaller aircraft, there was a time when both morning LHR spins were A380s. Fantastic growth in long haul from LGW. As for Cathay, HKG-LHR capacity is still well down with the CX257 sporadic and the CX239 not running, jury's out on a LGW return I think.

Do four first class seats really matter -the 359 has been deployed on one Heathrow service until recently anyway

That said isn’t it more a filler since they have lost a slot pair for NS 2024 .

A359 at LHR was a COVID thing, it's been 2 x A380 and 2 x B77W for a while now. Was one of those four slots leased? In which case it's less of a LGW gain than a LHR loss and they'll be battling to get back into LHR.

Great news for both LGW and SQ; I wonder what third-party lounge their premium passengers will use as they're not likely to have a SilverKris Lounge as they do at LHR.

Doesn't bode too well for Global then...lol.

The Singapore website does say that the Gatwick service will complement their 4 daily services from Heathrow. Therefore they do not appear to have lost the 4th slot.