London Air Travel » New & Noteworthy »
A very Happy New Year to all our readers around the world.
We got new routes!
In 2019, we will see many new routes, and former routes from London reinstated.
By this time next year we may also know whether in three years’ time we will be able to fly to Sydney non-stop. Here’s a quick run through of new routes launching in 2019.
Quick Links
London Gatwick Long-Haul
Norwegian continues to reshape its London Gatwick network, launching Rio de Janeiro four times weekly from Sunday 31 March.
It will also swap routes from Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale and Oakland to Miami and San Francisco International respectively from 31 March.
Austin and Seattle will also resume following their winter seasonal suspension on Friday 1 March and 31 March respectively.
In theory, Norwegian is supposed to take delivery of the Airbus A321 Long Range this year and may announce more transatlantic routes but this is very much dependent on its overall financial health.
London Heathrow Long-Haul
Virgin Atlantic will transfer Las Vegas from Gatwick to Heathrow from 31 March.
Air China will transfer Chengdu from Gatwick to Heathrow from 31 March.
BA will return to Osaka after a near 20 year absence, four times weekly from 31 March.
American Airlines will launch a daily service to Phoenix from 31 March.
BA will return to Pittsburgh, four times weekly, from Tuesday 2 April.
BA will fly to Charleston twice a week from Thursday 4 April until Thursday 24 October. It’s relatively unusual for BA to launch a low frequency seasonal long-haul route, and if a success, this could presage more route announcements.
After a break of more than ten years, BA will fly to Islamabad three times weekly from Sunday 2 June.
London City Short-Haul
Flybe will fly to Newcastle, en route to Aberdeen, up to twice daily from Monday 7 January.
LOT will fly to Warsaw and Budapest from 7 January and Monday 18 February. It will also launch Vilnius from May, though flights are not yet on sale.
BA will fly to Munich up to three times daily from Saturday 16 February.
BA will fly to Split three times weekly from Friday 21 June to Friday 6 September.
London Gatwick Short-Haul
easyJet will launch Dusseldorf, twice daily, from Saturday 9 February.
Flybe will suspend Newquay at Gatwick from 31 March as this transfers to Heathrow.
From 31 March, a number of BA short-haul routes will transfer between Gatwick and Heathrow. BA will launch Almeria, Bilbao and Mahon at Gatwick, all on a summer seasonal basis, having transferred these from Heathrow. Barcelona and Pisa will also only operate at Heathrow.
Wizz Air will launch Budapest and Cluj-Napoca, Romania, daily, from 31 March.
easyJet will launch Jerez de la Frontera, three times weekly, from Tuesday 2 April and Zadar, twice weekly, from Tuesday 30 April.
BA will fly to Kos three times weekly from Wednesday 15 May to Saturday 26 October.
London Heathrow Short-Haul
Flybe launches Newquay up to four times daily from 31 March.
BA will fly to Bastia once a week on Saturdays from 25 May to 28 September. BA will also fly to Preveza on Wednesdays and Sundays from Sunday 26 May to Sunday 28 September.
BA will launch a new route to Ljubljana in Slovenia. It will also reinstate a previously suspended route to Montpellier. Both routes will operate from Monday 15 July to Monday 2 September.
Valencia will transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow from 31 March and will operate on a summer seasonal basis.
Suspended Routes
Norwegian will suspend Gatwick – Singapore from Thursday 28 March.
BA will suspend Heathrow – Tallinn from Friday 29 March.
WOW Air will suspend Gatwick – Reykjavik from 31 March.
BA will suspend Heathrow – Muscat for the summer from 31 March.
Virgin Atlantic will suspend Heathrow – Dubai from 31 March.
Elsewhere
From Dublin, Aer Lingus will launch Minneapolis – St Paul from Monday 1 July 2019 and Montreal from Thursday 8 August 2019.
Future Announcements
Qantas should confirm before the end of the year whether it is to order aircraft with sufficient range to fly from London to Sydney non-stop from around 2022.
