Obvious to who? Several of the routes were planned/launched before covid (EZY GIB-EDI was 2019). I have no knowledge of a set date announcement for all carriers of a sudden new Gib gov incentive. Can you share?

GIB have a small marketing team and a budget grant for incentives, but this is longstanding. No sudden link to the rash of new routes especially those pre covid.
Some later route launches did unwittingly jump on covid bandwagon and so yes there is surprise they didn't expect to fail or fall off said wagon.

Never a summer service from Easyjet from Luton but there was always good loads both way when I went in March 2019.

I wasn’t saying it was a sudden new incentive. They offer incentives and have often been quoted as saying they are working hard on getting airlines. Ministers have been involved in it.

As to the covid routes I was thinking of Eastern to Birmingham and Southampton, Wizz, BA to LCY. Most of which now seem to have been dropped.

Gibraltar - Birmingham flights still showing with Eastern for summer, twice a week (Monday/Friday) from 4th April to the 29th August on their only E190

EDI-GIB was indeed launched on sale in 2019 but didn't operate until 2021, They also ran daily MAN-GIB flights last summer which has never happened before, and they'll be doing that again this Summer. Did agree that Southampton & London-City were a bit of an oddball. I can see Luton returning in the future where demand for travel really picks up, who knows if it'll be EasyJet or Wizz operating it,

How well did the EDI operate? Successful? When I was shuttling back and forth from Gib there were many Scots crying out for a Scottish service to Gib. All pre COVID of course. Many also just went to AGP preferring the prices of easyJet and at the time FlyGlobespan rather than routing via LHR or LGW.

The EDI service has operated sporadically during the winter and is bookable 3/wk throughout S22.

An airport that is often overlooked is Bristol, perhaps unsurprisingly given its modest size site nestling sleepily amongst the fields in the agreeable West Country.

BRS has had an easyJet Gibraltar service since 2015 that operates year round at mainly 3 x, sometimes 2 x, weekly. In the immediate pre-pandemic years it carried 48,000 to 50,000 passengers annually which, given the service frequency, seems to equate to decent loadings. We can't know the yield of course, but one might be justified in concluding that if it was dire the airline would not have retained the route for the past seven years. It's due to increase from its current 2 x weekly to 3 at the end of this month, thereafter the booking engine is showing 3 x weekly, except April which is 2, until the end of the summer timetable period. The BRS experience might suggest that it is possible to operate to Gibraltar from an airport that doesn't serve a major metropolitan area.

CAA stats show that in the calendar year of 2019 the annual passenger totals on UK-Gibraltar routes were:

Gatwick 193,000
Heathrow 163,000
Manchester 51,000
Bristol 50,000
Luton 26,000

I have to go to GIB in October for a wedding and had presumed that the LTN service would not be operating. My next closest is LHR so may just have to stump up the price. Travelling to LCY or BHX meets the law of diminishing returns.

Can't you get a Thameslink train to lgw?

Has Eastern Airlines dropped GIB or were they always seasonal? SOU and BHX?

SOU dropped, BHX summer seasonal

Thats a weird one, both Gibraltar and Birmingham airports show the route to be operating this Summer, but when you look on the Eastern Airways website there are no routes bookable from Birmingham or Gibraltar and don't even show the airports in the booking list.

Birmingham has been dropped as per SeanM1997 on twitter

Probably read PPruNe, suddenly realised they'd left it on sale by accident and pulled it.

Very interesting to see G-POWU pull up next to us at Gibraltar today. Any insight as to the reason for this flight? I take it some form of charter. Appeared to arrive empty from Birmingham and operated back into STN. Also looks to have operated BHX-GIB-BHX yesterday.

​​​​​​​Morrisons Home delivery....literally

In my working life we had Morrisons as a major client, and somebody there once told a colleague that their Gibraltar store is their most profitable, despite the obvious supply chain expense.

I've been on several cruise ship stops there in recent years and as soon as docked you'll see hoardes of crew heading there to stock up.

https://www.gbc.gi/news/morrisons-gi...-animal-origin

I suspect with some of the issues with the Spanish authorities at the Frontier that this may become a regular occurrence

As well as the local population, thousands of ex-pats from Costa del Sol head down to Gib for their Morrisons fix

Fascinating! Kinda love that, absolutely mad though.

I will be down there tomorrow, once I have gotten out of this Frankfurt hell hole

Apparently it is not as popular nowadays with ex-pats mainly due to restrictions of certain products from non EU countries entering the EU. Also a number of franchise shops have opened in recent times in the southern Costa del Sol for example Waitrose, M&S.

Their petrol station must also be one of the busiest for many miles (kms) around!

All ridiculous nonsense. The majority of people crossing the border each day are Spanish workers. Does this mean that every night these workers will be stripped searched in case they are concealing pigs in blankets?

Not nonsense at all! Spanish customs will target their inspections and they will be taking a closer look at UK passport holders who I would suggest would be more likely to be smuggling fresh foods from GIB to the EU.

Sorry LTNman, I would think I have crossed that border more than you have had ??. It is not only customs there is the Guardia Civile (only time being saluted by a po!iceman) and occasionally the Policia National (the heavy mob) bashing car sills, tyres etc looking mainly for drugs and cigarettes. Had even had a bit of agro on the way in from the Gib Police but I have found the Giberines not particularly friendly.

All hopefully about to come to an end. This from last week.

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-a...for-gibraltar/

Looks like EasyJet have dropped EDI-GIB for Summer 2023. Was originally bookable until September 2023 with gaps between now and March & between July & September, but looks to be gone completely now

A real shame - UK regionals to GIB have always struggled. London will always be fine .. two way traffic ... VFR, universities, medical treatment, affluent Londoners with homes south of Estepona etc. Gibraltar is a fantastic destination in it's own right, but capacity limited (in my opinion only two decent hotels) but needs to be seen as a convenient gateway to the southern Costa del Sol - perhaps the latest news out of Madrid may help that

I'm surprised seasonal GIB has gone from EDI with EZY. Would have thought it a winner frankly. Anyone got previous pax figures? I know it's hard one because of COVID times so not sure really what it can tell us.

Gibraltar in winter sometimes gets fog. Along with a non-trivial approach and a limited runway, this causes a number of flights to divert to Malaga.

Would anyone be able to say what time of day in winter Gibraltar is most or least at risk of fog ? I'm guessing morning tends to see fog with it usually burning off by early afternoon... but would be very grateful if somebody knowledgeable about Gibraltar's meteorology could give some advice

Hi David, my take on the weather problems at Gib is more wind than fog after chatting to a number of flight deck crews when using the airport. With the relatively cool Atlantic meeting the relatively warm Mediterranean that is where the problems with fog arise but it is the wind swerling round the rock which causes the unstable air on final approach.
Monarch and BA was/is Captains only but after chatting to a very experienced easyJet Captain (once flew for Sabre Airways) it is Captain's only for both take off and landing. Having used Gib many times only had one divert which was actually tech with the replacement aircraft operating to Malaga as the crew did not have enough experience of operating into Gib. Maybe I have been lucky. Hope this helps.

Your'e right, its the wind/turbulence'.

EasyJet Schedules for Summer 2024:

MAN goes from daily to 4pw, though does run 6pw in July & August

LGW runs 13pw throughout the season, with just one flight on the Tuesday

BRS down to 2pw, also worth noting unlike the other two routes, this one is currently not bookable after October 2024, although I know these have only just gone on sale.