Bamboo Airways
 

Sadly, LGW looks set to lose Bamboo Airways altogether, with flights to Ho Chi Minh ceasing 20th September, and Hanoi ending 25th October :( Shame to see another long haul airline leave Gatwick :(

Air Algerie
 

Algerian carrier Air Algerie plans to launch a new route to the United Kingdom. The airline will fly to London Gatwick from 29 October with twice weekly flights.

Algiers - London Gatwick
AH2058 1430 1640 737 6
AH2058 1850 2100 737 7
London Gatwick - Algiers
AH2059 1755 2150 737 6
AH2059 2230 0225+1 737 7

Source:
Didn't they run some flights into STN last year, so maybe not impressed with the service they got, yes I know they were short notice LHR change flights during restrictions but you would have thought it would be ideal time for MAG to impress!?

Algeria is pretty much due south of London... the time and cost of overflying Sussex to reach STN alone must favour AH preferring LGW over STN. Algeria's visa policy makes tourism by UK citizens very difficult. The Algerian community in the UK is a tiny fraction of that in France. The corporate oil traffic will always favour LHR over anywhere else. Why should MAG bend over backwards to get a 2x weekly airline with little potential to expand ?

If you know anything about ex French colonial ties in Africa, most are dropping ties. Universities in Algerie are dropping French and moving to English. They feel abandoned by the French. Look at the nations which have joined the commonwealth recently.
As such this could see increased demand.
The Algerian government would have noted better connections to UK by neighbouring countries in North & Central Africa, I can see restrictions in travel changing, hence this new service and potential. They do have quite a few aircraft arriving so the shedules can be increased as demand increases.

Pabely - I agree that Algerian visa policy can change... but it's got to change a lot for tourism on anywhere near the scale of Egypt, Tunisia or Morocco. Algeria makes tourism difficult for almost everyone with a European passport. The formerly impossible-to-enter-as-a-nonpilgrim-tourist Saudi Arabia seems to be making tourism easier than Algeria

British Airways are moving Algiers from Heathrow to Gatwick at the beginning of the winter season to be operated by BA Euroflyer with a daily frequency.

Indeed it's a shame to see LGW losing another long haul airline but not really surprising regarding Bamboo Airways as I predicted in an earlier post of mine from a few weeks ago.

I think we predicted it at the launch…

They left LHR because they couldn't afford the operating costs which is never a good sign.....although a fair comment!

Saudia
 

Saudia are reducing Jeddah to LGW for the IATA winter 2023/24 season. Flights reduce from 7 to 4 weekly. Operational days are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Flight times and schedule remains the same.

The IATA winter 2023/24 season will see several reductions or cessations from various long haul airlines at LGW.

Bamboo Airways...abandoning LGW
Delta...going seasonal, "or maybe gone again"
Jetblue...reducing capacity
Norse Atlantic...reducing capacity
Saudia...reducing capacity

Not surprised, winter isn't great for loadings is it?

Well obviously compared to the summer season it isn't.

My post was for informative purposes only.

Bamboo
 

So looks likes it now official , albeit ending in October as opposed to September

As has been widely reported many aircraft diversions & flight cancellations tonight due ATC staff shortages at Gatwick.

What's the real reason for this ? Genuine sickness epidemic ? Lousy pay and people leaving ? Something else ? Would be keen to understand the root cause of this, preferably without political point scoring or PR "edited" press releases

Interestingly BHX was Notammed for reduced ATC cover from 0400-0600 this week as well. Didnt affect flights at those hours, but is there an issue brewing with ATC staff

It's not brewing - it's been managed since Covid, and not just in the UK.

Looks like it's going pear-shaped today - U2 have so far cancelled 26 departures. Presume weather related.

Why weather? An EZY diverted to LTN and a WUK to STN? ATC issues again?

Even though I left earlier this year, I still receive all the alerts and details of what's going on. Any ATC issues would result in me receiving a message on my phone - this hasn't happened. Weather-wise, thunderstorms are forecast any time up to 06:00 local tomorrow. U2 appear to be a lot quicker to chop flights from the 3rd wave than was the case about a year ago when they would simply wait until everything was beyond recovery and a total shambles.