Great news indeed my good friend and everytime that there is good news I always think of you.

Well I had previously mentioned that Air China from Beijing was going to be the next announcement for LGW but I wasn't expecting it so soon after I had posted it.

We always appreciate good news LGW related and I'm sure we can both look forward to reading about the next airline announcements regarding London Gatwick.

Who's next?

Who's next?
 

IMHO, a KLM / KLM Cityhopper LGW-AMS feeder would make an excellent fit for Gatwick if they can lay their hands on the four to five daily, commonly timed slot pairs - an extreme rarity at Gatwick these days - Aer Lingus are soon going to vacate. My second choice would be Air France (for an LGW-CDG feeder).

Hope Swiss can get another morning slot pair to make their new LGW-ZRH a proper feeder to maximise onward connections at ZRH, both outbound and inbound (which usually tend to be early morning arrivals for most European long-haul flight connections). Interestingly in this context, according to ACL's most recent interim slot report for LGW for summer 2024, Swiss had actually applied for two daily slot pairs to allow them to serve this route both in the morning and the evening. But they were not successful in getting any of the slots for which they had originally applied. So, I wonder where these slots came from. I think another airline that succeeded in getting the slots at Gatwick for which they had applied must have decided not to take them and to return them to the slot pool for reallocation to Swiss.

Will we see ITA Airways, who have actually been successful in getting the two daily slot pairs for which they had applied, launch LGW-FCO next?

No spare slots at AMS so never going to happen.

Never going to happen with such "gusto."

But KLM, along with their fellow Sky Team members, have an extremely large slot portfolio at Amsterdam if indeed KLM ever wanted to resume their own AMS-LGW service.

I'm not saying that KLM would or would not resume their own AMS-LGW service but to use "Never going to happen" is like someone posting on this particular thread this time last year suggesting that Singapore Airlines could be a possible candidate for LGW. Well it happened to everyone's surprise.

At the end of the day, "Never going to happen" is a baseless comment. It reminds me of a friend of mine who in late February 2022 just before Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. He was adamant when he said to me, "Never going to happen. Well it happened, but I wasn't surprised.

And it would not surprise me at all if at some point in the future KLM did indeed resume their own AMS-LGW service. But in saying that I'm sure KLM would have better opportunities to use any slots made available to them at AMS rather than them resuming service to LGW.

The Dutch House of Representatives have just voted for Lelystad never to have commercial passenger airline flights. No, not legally binding, but any Govt minister going against this in the next few years will need to be brave and courageous.

That means all the O&D beach flights (including Transavia) are stuck at AMS. And no, RTM and EIN are not going to be expanding significantly any time soon. All this, along with the Dutch desire to reduce the number of flights at AMS is going to put strong pressure on KLM to maximise the value of each slot at AMS. Think how BA was acting with LHR slots 30 years ago.

There is also the issue of competitors Easyjet and BA Euroflyer having relatively low costs with A320 aircraft on LGW-AMS.

If KL starts LGW-AMS, it is unlikely to be with regular use of Embraer Cityhopper aircraft. It will need to be using aircraft with at least 150 seats to avoid red ink.

I'm sure once 321s start to arrive they will be put to use on LHR.
The way slots are at AMS, if they do get LGW slots, that will put pressure on the likes of SEN and other regional routes to make serious money or be gone!

Who next?
 

According to a piece posted about Air Algerie on Simple Flying earlier today, it seems the airline's management recently held a press conference (2023 results release) in which they confirmed their intention of launching new services to JFK and LGW, respectively.

Regarding LGW, they (AH management) said they want to launch daily flights from / to ALG with Boeing 737-800s, now slated to start on 31 March (the first day of the northern hemisphere 2024 summer timetable period). In this connection, Simple Flying quoted an oblique AH management statement at their recent 2023 results press conference that negotiations were still ongoing. I take that to mean negotiations with the UK government about amending the UK-Algeria bilateral ASA. So, we could be seeing AH serve LGW on a regular basis during summer 2024 after all (and, if it happens, probably beyond, as well).

Another thing I noticed recently is that for the last 10 days or so on the Gatwick live flight arrivals and departures page a daily Air Peace flight has been listed, with a 6:20 am scheduled arrival time (flight no. P4 7578) and a 9:25 am scheduled departure time (flight no. P4 7579). While the flight status currently shows as "cancelled" and "enquire airline", respectively, similar scheduled flight arrival and departure flight displays on the Gatwick website in the case of both China Southern and Air Mauritius - with the flight status always showing as "cancelled" / "enquire airline" ahead of the official launch confirmation / date have turned out to be correct (foreshadowing what was eventually going to happen). So, could we see Air Peace at Gatwick after all, despite that airline's supposed owner's bluster that launching a regular scheduled LOS-LON service would only happen if the airline is able to get slots at LHR? If it does happen - P4 coming to LGW, I hope it doesn't end like it always did in recent years when a Nigerian airline launched scheduled service to London: the airline going bust not long after the launch date, as was most recently the case when Arik Air, who b.t.w. had succeeded in getting LHR slots, was declared bankrupt (by a Nigerian court I believe), with Portuguese ACMI operator Hifly (from whom Arik had leased the A340-500 plying LOS-LHR on a daily year -round basis) reposessing their aircraft and suing Arik for non-paynent of the lease.

On a different (but somwhat related) note, I also believe that Air Peace and its controversial owner are also behind the opposition Ethiopian-backed Nigeria Air currently faces in gaining the relevant Nigerian authorities' required approvals to launch as Nigeria's new designated flag carrier.

Taag
 

Taag also are also on Gatwick’s arrivals and departures board too, so maybe that’s to come finally too.

TAAG Angola Airlines flights have been regularly appearing on the official London Gatwick arrivals and departures board since the 14 December 2023.

14 December 2023 was the date that was "supposed" to be the airlines first flight from Luanda. No flights have appeared at London Gatwick and none whatsoever have shown on flightradar. No direct flights are available to book on the TAAG Angola Airlines website. No announcement or anything regarding London Gatwick on the airlines website.

I'm keeping an open mind regarding TAAG Angola Airlines appearing at London Gatwick anytime in the near future, especially with their limited operations regarding long haul aircraft.

Taag and air peace
 

I agree with you about keeping an open mind because I’m exactly the same just saying what I’m seeing.

You can disagree with me but Air peace announcement could happen anytime, very close imo. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the next one to announce.

Your obviously not keeping upto date regarding Air Peace and Norse UK and London Gatwick.

I'm not going to spell it out for you as the recent information falls flat in your face regarding your Air Peace arguments and London Gatwick.

Ch-aviation.com has a very recent article that will put you in a better position to actually understand the situation. It's far from what you are suggesting. Enthusiasm is one thing but reality is a completely different story.

But then again you do have an X account where you share all of the information except for here on pprune. See post 5013.

Air peace
 

Air peace is done all they need is the slots and if they Norse are involved then 100 percent Gatwick will work with Air peace and ACL to get the slots they need because Gatwick love Norse.

I’ve literally been told this by people that work within Gatwick and if you refuse to believe it then that’s fine.

Norse is not involved. Read the recent article on ch.aviation.com. Your getting carried away, overly enthusiastic.

"Gatwick love Norse", really!

What type of statement is that. Your enthusiasm is running on full speed. To be fair that's quite a ridiculous thing to type 🙄

They do love Norse why did acl give them all the slots they requested this summer. Not exactly rocket science is it

ACL and London Gatwick Airport are two totally different entities.

London Gatwick Airport have no say when it comes to slot allocation. ACL are responsible for slot allocations.

As an incumbent airline at London Gatwick Airport Norse UK would more likely likely and inevitably be allocated any requested slots.

This has absolutely nothing to do with your ridiculous suggestion that London Gatwick "loves" Norse.

Why would London Gatwick love a particular airline?

Especially an airline that continously chops and changes their schedule on a regular basis.

I'm not sure of your age but to say something like Gatwick "loves" Norse is quite an immature thing to say. Even more so when you start a sentence with "they do love Norse".

"Not exactly rocket science is it". I'm lost with words with that comment.

The TAAG and Air Peace flights appear in the Gatwick system because both have slots in the W23 season. As has been stated often before, the fact that an operator holds slots doesn't mean the flights will take place (Omni Blu being another recent example). Air Peace could indeed start at any time - there are no other legal steps to overcome, but as flights are still not for sale it seems unlikely that they will.

As my earlier question didn't get a repsonse, what would the likes of Air Peace and TAAG add to the bottom line at Gatwick? If I was a handling agent I wouln't touch them with a barge pole. And it shows what position Norse are in if they are considering such a deal.

As someone who frequently follows and participates in this thread, I always enjoy seeing both your posts as well as those from my friend, Sotonsean. As far as airline rumours and speculations are concerned at LGW, they are just that until/if any official announcements are made, although I do appreciate that there are members on this forum who work within LGW itself, so I'm sure they are likely to hear of anything in the pipeline before the majority do. In saying this, please lets continue to keep discussions on here civil- personal statements including 'its not exactly rocket science is it' aren't constructive, nor positive, and don't bode well in setting a positive tone for this thread- having positive, open discussions is what we should all be aiming for :) This is a great thread, let's keep it that way :)

As far as some of the rumours go, given the success LGW has had last year in bringing in new carriers to the airport, including names that we never thought would consider LGW (I'm thinking Singapore Airlines as a key example), nothing would surprise me anymore in terms of announcements this year, which may of course feature some of those airlines that have already been discussed and rumoured in this thread. I'm not saying that all will, but I'd vouch that at least some will feature. The situation at LHR RE. slot limitations and the never ending debate of the third runway is unlikely to change in the mid-long term future, which is why we are now seeing many carriers beginning to take a fresh look at LGW as an alternative to LHR. So I've no doubt whatsoever that LGW is set for another exciting year, and that we will continue to see further announcements over the coming year.

I suspect the pricing regime at LHR is also driving traffic to LGW, you can't even fly an A321 CEO out of LHR economically anymore due to the new pricing regime, but somehow A319s are fine, (same engines!)
This thread's been hijacked by a schoolboy with a Galley FM connection, and we all know that staff gossip is wildly entertaining and just as wrong most of the time.

SkyAlps to fly Gatwick-Bolzano 2x weekly from 17 April
https://italiavola.com/2024/02/06/sk...a-meta-aprile/

Chinese carriers
 

Air China are to remain flying daily between Shanghai PVG and London Gatwick.

From the 01 May 2024 to the 26 October 2024 Air China will replace the current A330-200 on Shanghai PVG to London Gatwick with a A350-900.

It was originally expected that Air China would reduce Shanghai PVG from daily to four weekly.

Air China will resume daily Beijing DAX to London Gatwick on the 01 June 2023 flying daily with an A330-300

China Eastern from the 01 March 2024 will replace the A333-200 on their daily Shanghai PVG to London Gatwick route with a Boeing 777-300ER.

Credit to aeroroutes.com

Air China is Beijing Capital PEK/ZBAA I think?

Ita airways
 

ITA airways now have Gatwick to Rome flights bookable from 1st of June 2024.

Gosh, wow, wasn't expecting this. A lot of competition with EZY, Wizz and VY also serving LGW-FCO. BA also used to fly to Rome from LGW for many years up until Covid hit.

ITA seem to be closing their Heathrow - Rome FCO route on 30 March 2024. From 31 March 2024, their website shows nothing available on LHR-FCO. Opening a Gatwick - Rome FCO route might be related

Interesting, wonder why they're closing LHR? Also, if the LHR route closes at the end of March, I wonder why LGW isn't starting until 3 months afterwards? I've just checked their website and LGW-FCO seems to be running just once daily. At this rate, I predict they will struggle against the multiple daily frequencies flown by EZY, Wizz and VY.

ITA are adding flights at LCY from 31 March 2024. The flights from 1 June are probably related to the large number of people who go to Italy for leisure over the summer.
Have a Google about ITA, Heathrow slots and the name of a large airline based in the UAE that was heavily involved with Alitalia, the precursor of ITA

Ita airways
 

I don’t fully know if all the flights are on the system yet. They don’t even have Gatwick on the search bar yet. I think maybe they will be available after 31 march but we will see. They wanted double daily on the slots so we shall see.

Use "London, (LON)" to search on the ITA website

Ita
 

They are also confirmed on sky-scanner. Thanks for the information I found that earlier. The flights aren’t listed after some time in early October or late September so let’s hope they extend it to all year.

ITA Airways LGW-FCO as of 1 June 2024
 

What will be the frequency of the new ITA Airways LGW-FCO service? The interim ACL NS 2024 LGW slot report listed them as having secured slots for 2 daily rotations.

What aircraft type[s] will they be using? A220s / 320s / 321s?

Anyway, the good news for LGW just seems to continue, which is a good thing.

If LGW-FCO comes at the expense of LHR-FCO as previously suggested in this thread, then what will happen to the slots ITA will vacate at LHR? Will they use them to increase their LHR-LIN frequency? Another question I've got in this connection is: Who owns ITA's LHR slots? Is it Etihad? (I seem to remember having read that Etihad had acquired ownership of ITA's predecessor Alitalia's LHR slots as collateral for the money they'd lent the now defunct former Italian flag carrier.

Reverting to the most asked question in relation to LGW, who's next, my prediction is:

MIAT Mongolian as the UK-Mongolia bilateral has just been renewed and MIAT has gone public with adding scheduled service to LON being on their horizon, likely to be helped by the fact that MIAT is currently in the process of becoming a oneworld affiliate or associate (can't remember what exactly their lowest level of airline membership is called) being sponsored by Cathay. While IMHO we're unlikely to it happen this year, MIAT could be making its LGW debut next year, hopefully with their new 787s.

Another interesting new airline to have at LGW would be the new, up-market Taiwanese long-haul FSC Starlux (reportedly founded by the same top management team who had founded highly acclaimed Eva Air decades ago). While this airline is at the moment focused on building up its presence in the US, according to an article featuring in Airways magazine fairly recently, the airline seems to be genuinely interested in establishing a footprint in Europe as well, with both LON and PAR likely to be among its initial batch of destinations. Given the slot situation at LHR, IMHO I believe there is a good chance of seeing this airline's A350A-900s at LGW, possibly from as early as 2025. If this were to happen, it would be another major coup for LGW (of the same importance as attracting Singapore Airlines to the airport and - hopefully - getting Cathay to resume its pre-Covid LGW-HKG service).

Gatwick new airlines
 

People have laughed at my suggestions on here. I am training to be a pilot at the moment. Anyway Very interesting to here your predictions with miat and starlux.

i believe the next will be taag and air peace. Then maybe etihad or azul in Brazil. I also believe air Tanzania later this year.

having seen what’s been going on at Gatwick in the last year nothing at this stage is impossible.

also with ita I don’t think they actually had any Heathrow slots to start off with which is why they are having to find another London airport.

ITA are moving their Milan LIN - London route from LHR to LCY from the end of March 2024

It's a shame to see ITA Airways leave London Heathrow. Although it's a completely different airline to it's predecessor. Alitalia the predecessor to ITA Airways once had a sizeable operation to London Heathrow from various Italian destinations. During the eighties and nineties London Heathrow would see numerous daily flights with Alitalia from Bologna, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Rome, Turin and Venice with a mixture of aircraft such as the Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321, Boeing 727, MD-83 and even the odd DC-10-30.

There was always a couple of aircraft from Alitalia at the former Terminal 2 gates during that period in time. I remember on one occasion when looking from the former Queens Building viewing area seeing five Alitalia aircraft at former Terminal 2 at the same time. During the late nineties the secondary Italian airports were transferred to London Gatwick leaving just the Milan and Rome flights remaining at London Heathrow. With those two final destinations set to cease, the long history of Alitalia will soon be over at London Heathrow.

As per SeanM1997 ITA hoped to gain slots for summer 2024 but weren't able to do so hence the move, so id suggest it is only temporary until they can regain slots at Heathrow in the future

I had thought that with Lhr obviously now full that the comments re Lgw being the waiting room for Lhr slots would now come to an end. I was wrong.

Barring a major airline exiting Lhr, or collapsing or a new runway, where will all the slots appear from for all those in the waiting room at Lgw?

Non-Oneworld airlines based in or near Europe who currently fly to Heathrow and which do not have a major hub with plenty of long-haul flights to feed. Some of these airlines (if they are not already in trouble) will admit to themselves how difficult it is to compete against the LCC onslaught or come to a stage where they urgently need to convert some family silver into cash and eventually sell their slots to carriers wanting to fly long-haul to LHR.
Aegean Airlines, Air Algerie, Air Serbia, Bulgaria Air, Croatia Airlines, Eurowings, KM Malta, Middle East Airlines, Tunisair - I'm looking at you

The ITA flights only seem to operate 1st June to 30th Sept, once daily. They were awarded slots for 2 daily, so what happens to those slots? Returned or is there more services to be added?

I’d remove Aegean from that list at least. They are a Star Alliance member and shift a lot of transfers at LHR to the US/Canada and beyond. Plus they make money so not in any immediate need to sell up.

I think the Maltese Gov wouldn’t let KM lose the slot at LHR. It’s always been protected by them.

Didn’t Air Algerie and Tunisair both lose some slots already for not keeping to schedule enough?

Eurowings stays within the LH group so it might be transferred to another if they need it more but I doubt it. They also bring transfer traffic to other Star Alliance carriers.

With the SAS partnership with AF/KL we could eventually see some rationalisation of slots within that group. KL flying E190s could easily end and send those pax via CPH instead.

There's always been slot churn at LHR, any long haul operator with a dual LHR/LGW operation will be keeping their eyes open for an opportunity to move more across to LHR. LHR was declared full and closed to new entrants in 1977 and re-opened in 1991. A lot of airlines have been and gone since then. It would seem TAROM and ITA will be next to leave, there are always new opportunities at the right price.

That said, LGW is back in a much better place.