I agree, I very much doubt it but Air Transat discontinued Vancouver to London Gatwick shortly after the arrival of WestJet on the route. Considering that, Air Transat might have a look at resuming their own service at some point.

Anyone know if Wizzair are likely to continue the agadir flights for summer? Flights only go upto March currently. Any idea when they release these flights?

Very few countries have sold off their airports, most are publicly owned and publicly operated (e.g. USA), others publicly owned and privately operated on a concession/licence basis.


A port authority would run all the airports as is the case in New York. Of course LHR needs to be a mega airport, 4 rwys would suffice, and could just about be fitted in, regretably there isn't room for 6. Maybe use NHT to replicate the SEN/STN role in the Thames Valley.

No need for LGW, STN, and the rest to be left to rot, they all have a role to play in the south east England airports system.



Not going to happen because it is a dreadful idea, ESPECIALLY as airports are privately owned businesses. Hell would freeze over before the owners of LHR would close the airport and sell it for housing and say goodbye to all that profit, and compulsory purchase would be a serious vote-losing use of public money.

​​​​​​​LHR is in exactly the right place which is probably why carriers want to be there and pay eye-wateringly high prices for slots on the secondary slot market.

British Airways’ Gatwick-based subsidiary, BA Euroflyer, has added Montpellier, Corfu, Mykonos and Innsbruck to its short-haul route network, in addition to a new summer Salzburg service.
https://mediacentre.britishairways.c...atwick-network

with all the JetBlue tooing and froing, is it just a matter of time before its an all LHR operation?

I think JetBlue are quite happy to serve both London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports.

JetBlue have just announced a second daily flight between New York JFK and London Heathrow.

For the IATA 2023 summer season JetBlue will offer the following,

Boston to London Gatwick Daily
Boston to London Heathrow Daily
New York JFK to London Gatwick Twice dailyNew York JFK to London Heathrow Twice daily

I have previously contacted JetBlue on LinkedIn regarding their London operations and enquired about the airline potentially serving London Stansted. I mentioned to them that there are opportunities to be made by serving London's three major airports. They replied, it's on our radar.

Baring that it mind I don't see JetBlue leaving London Gatwick airport anytime soon.

I think one of the JFK-LGW runs is moving to become the daytime JFK-LHR for the summer....

That’s correct. According to Flight Global LGW JFK drops to once daily. How popular are day flights USA - Europe? Many, many years ago when I used to use staff travel I loved the BA daytime JFK LHR. Much preferred it to the red eyes and it was never full so you always got on.

East bound day flights into London are a secret 🤫 for those in the know .
A proper nights sleep and if you must you can be in the London office refreshed and early in the next day.
Whatever people think a fold down seat and privacy screen is never the same as a real bed !

Many think of slot constraints from a GB (LHR) perspective , however JFK has gate occupancy limitations with a similar indeed more restrictive impact.

There is a reason why for instance BA daily movements haven't changed (increased) in about 20 years at Kennedy, nor many other competing operators for that matter.
Any additional flights from LHR have been the result consolidation over the hub rather than regional points ( including those from City no longer operated) not actual extra slots - now is their an economic benefit? - Yes for the carrier and “maybe” a niche of customers particularly in NYC, London and Paris however less so everywhere else.

The effect creates over capacity in the back of the Bus/Boeing for large parts of the year and the excess economy seats are literally dumped below cost via the consolidators further eroding the regional services .

That is the business model; is it fair no but business isn’t fair and the mantra everyone wants to go from LHR is maintained - bribes up front to valued high paying customers ( corporations) and seemingly access to cheaper economy fares down the back ( maybe an inconvenience of several hours ground travel to endure) than available from regional points .

I think you have given your own answer.

There are a range of factors that make the eastbound daylight a poor return on capital. Has to stand in JFK overnight because there's no inbound that early, and then has to stand in LHR overnight as well on arrival, because there's no long haul outbound that late. Not being overnight reduces the high end sleeper seat demand. There is zero opportunity at either end for meaningful connections. BA departure staff have to come on duty early at JFK for this one flight, then nothing for them to do until late afternoon.

But when I have taken it, it involves getting up in New York very early, and by the time I get home, within London, it's very late, and I'm distinctly knackered to set off for the office at normal time next morning.

Thanks the update as I wasn't aware of that fact as I typed it.

In the scheme of things it’s a more limited market I accept, but there is a market. It’s not true there are no connections, there are early am arrivals into JFK particularly from Central America/Caribbean region which are poorly or not served from the UK. Onwards from LHR there are a few late flights to Africa and Asia, places not necessarily available from NYC.

The staffing argument surely applies to most US destinations where there are no more than one or two flights a day? Similarly the bed argument also applies to the bulk of westbound?

"But when I have taken it, it involves getting up in New York very early, and by the time I get home, within London, it's very late, and I'm distinctly knackered to set off for the office at normal time next morning."

Way back we used to use the TWA day time from NY - it was a lot better than overnight - especially in Slave Class but as you say it meant you had to stay close to JFK or get up very early with along drive. Late arrival at LHR wasn't a problem but again meant you had to be staying in London or the Thames valley - both factors impacted useage

Long haul growth for LGW in 2023
 

Given the difficulties of the last few years, it is such welcome news to see LGW beginning to flourish once more, particularly on the long haul side of things, as we have lost many airlines since Covid-19 first broke out. I know that BA are expanding long haul from Gatwick this summer, and Delta will soon be making a return, but what are people's thoughts on potential further long haul expansion from LGW, particularly into Asia? I'm wondering with Hong Kong now reopening and Cathay targeting a full pre-Covid schedule during 2023-4, could we see CX come back to Gatwick?

Surely, that will depend on the passenger numbers on their flights into LHR. If they are all operating at around 90%, then they will seek extra capacity by using LGW.

So Air India coming to Lgw with 4 new routes, starting S23. Lhr must be filling up fast.

Changes seem to be happening on the Norse Atlantic site, with a number of routes appearing in the drop down from Lgw.

Wizz announced Gatwick-Istanbul, Antalya and Dalaman.

Will they need to base more aircraft at Lgw for these routes?