British Airways has extended the transfer of all London Gatwick short haul flights to London Heathrow Airport up to Saturday 30 October 2021.
BA transferred all Gatwick short haul routes to London Heathrow in April 2020. This was initially a temporary move. It has been extended many times. The last plan was for short haul flights to resume in July.
The latest extension in no doubt influenced by the UK government’s plans to reopen international travel, which means a near normal summer travel season without restrictions is looking less likely. It does not bode well for BA’s long term presence at Gatwick.
At present, BA is operating a limited number of long haul flights at Gatwick to Antigua, Cancun and St Lucia. A number of flights to Antigua and St Lucia are expected to operate at Heathrow in the summer. BA is also due to transfer flights to Accra, Doha and Islamabad to Gatwick on 31 October 2021.
At the time of publication the latest extension is not reflected in online timetables but these should be updated shortly.
Passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
British Airways has extended the transfer of most Gatwick short haul flights to London Heathrow until Wednesday 30 June 2021 at the earliest.
BA temporarily transferred all Gatwick short haul routes to London Heathrow in April last year.
This will continue until 30 June 2021, with the exception of flights to Glasgow which will start at Gatwick on Thursday 24 June 2021.
Another delay is not surprising given there is very little chance of travel restrictions in Europe being relaxed in the coming months. If restrictions continue throughout the summer and a waiver is issued which allows BA to cancel flights without forfeiting slots, it is likely to be extended.
At present, BA is operating a limited number of long haul flights at Gatwick to Antigua, Bermuda, Cancun and St Lucia.
Passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
Update March 2021
BA has delayed the start of Manchester flights at Gatwick until Sunday 31 October 2021. Flights to Accra and Islamabad will also continue to operate at London Heathrow throughout the summer season.
British Airways is to reinstate a connection between London Gatwick and Manchester after a hiatus of many years.
The route was suspended during a long process of “de-hubbing” BA’s operation at Gatwick with a focus on point-to-point traffic. It was a one of a number of domestic routes suspended at Gatwick including Aberdeen and Newcastle.
At present, timetables indicate that the route will operate once-daily. An early morning departure from Manchester will facilitate connections to long-haul flights at Gatwick.
BA is also transferring long-haul flights from London Heathrow Accra and to Gatwick from 28 March 2021.
More broadly, this does suggest that BA is intent on restoring its short-haul operation at Gatwick next summer and preserving its slot portfolio.
That said, as ever in the current environment everything is subject to change at short notice.
British Airways has confirmed that it has suspended all short-haul flights at London Gatwick until Wednesday 30 June 2021 at the earliest.
BA will continue to operate many Gatwick short-haul flights at London Heathrow for the winter season.
This was expected as many Gatwick short-haul flights were showing as operating at Heathrow throughout the winter season. Following a relaxation of “use it or lose it” slot rules for the winter season, BA can cancel flights at Gatwick without forfeiting slots.
At present, there is little visibility on short-haul flight schedules. BA Gatwick routes expected to operate Heathrow throughout the winter include Alicante, Bordeaux, Gran Canaria, Grenoble, Jersey, Lanzarote, Malta, Naples, Porto, Salzburg, Tenerife, Turin and Verona.
These flights will retain their original Gatwick flight numbers which begin with a 2. This means they may show on some websites as having been diverted.
BA will continue to operate some long-haul flights at Gatwick. At present, BA is operating limited flights to Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Kingston and St Lucia. Many routes are expected to return in October, including Cancun, Providenciales and Punta Cana. BA will also launch a new route to Montego Bay in October.
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to launch a new winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Flights will operate twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 13 October 2020 until Easter 2021.
The route will be operated with a three class Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
It may seem unusual for the airline to launch a new route at a time of significantly reduced demand. However, it’s worth recalling that after the 2008 financial crisis, BA pivoted towards long-haul leisure routes and added a number of destinations at Gatwick such as Male and Cancun. There may also be an element of subsidy for this route.
Virgin Atlantic previously flew to Montego Bay from Gatwick and is due to restart the route from London Heathrow on Friday 2 October 2020. This move by BA will obviously put competitive pressure on Virgin Atlantic.
British Airways short-haul flights at London Gatwick airport will remain suspended until early November 2020 at the earliest.
All BA flights at Gatwick have been suspended since April 2020. BA has transferred many short-haul routes from Gatwick. These include:
Alicante Algiers (TBC) Bari (from 1 August) Bilbao Bordeaux (from 1 August) Cagliari Catania (from 1 August) Dubrovnik Funchal Genoa (from 1 August) Jersey Kos Lanzarote (from 1 August) Mahon, Menorca Malta (from 3 August) Naples Paphos (from 1 August) Porto Salzburg (from 1 August) Seville Tenerife Thessaloniki Turin Verona
Flights on overlapping routes such as Faro, Ibiza, Palma, Rhodes and Tenerife have also been transferred to Heathrow.
Some short-haul routes have not transferred to Heathrow. Flights to Gran Canaria and Milan Bergamo have been suspended until late October 2020. Flights from Gatwick to Antalya will not resume until summer 2021. Almeria has been permanently suspended.
British Airways has temporarily suspended all flights at London Gatwick airport.
All BA flights at Gatwick are suspended until Saturday 1 August 2020 at the earliest.
BA has temporarily transferred flights to Jersey to London Heathrow during July 2020. Flights will operate daily from Wednesday 1 July 2020.
Flight operations at Gatwick have already reduced significantly. Norwegian has temporarily suspended all flights. Virgin Atlantic has transferred its Gatwick flights to Heathrow. Both of these moves could become permanent.
Given there is huge uncertainty as to the medium to long-term impact of COVID-19 on air travel and the economy, it is plausible that BA may also look to consolidate operations at London Heathrow.
BA passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent to secure a refund or a rebooking.
Sunday 27 October 2019 marks the beginning of the Winter 2019 travel season for airlines. This runs until Saturday 28 March 2020. Here are the main known schedule changes for British Airways at London Gatwick.
These are for indicative guidance and are subject to change according to commercial and operational requirements. Flights from Gatwick can booked at ba.com
Long-Haul Changes
Cape Town resumes for the winter, three times weekly, from Monday 11 November 2019 to Saturday 28 March 2020.
Cancun increases to five times weekly.
Fort Lauderdale has been suspended since Saturday 7 September 2019.
Lima is suspended for the winter from Friday 25 October 2019 until Sunday 29 March 2020.
Male resumes for the winter from Sunday 27 October 2019 to Friday 27 March 2020.
New York JFK will be operated by an Envelop Airlines Airbus A330 aircraft from Sunday 27 October 2019 to Sunday 12 January 2020. This is a two class aircraft, with no premium economy cabin. All passengers have the option of rebooking on alternative BA services between London Heathrow and New York JFK. The route will also be cancelled from Tuesday 14 January 2020 to Monday 10 February 2020.
Toronto has been suspended for the winter since Tuesday 24 September 2019 and is scheduled to resume from Friday 1 May 2020.
New Short-Haul Routes
BA has transferred its service to Gran Canaria from London Heathrow to Gatwick. It will initially operate three times weekly in the winter season on Monday, Friday and Saturday.
BA launched a new year-round route from Gatwick to Milan Bergamo on Sunday 1 September 2019.
Suspended Short-Haul Routes
The following winter seasonal routes will not return this year:
Friedrichshafen, Lyon
Returning Short-Haul Winter Seasonal Routes
The following routes return for the winter season:
Cologne returns from Friday 1 November 2019 to Friday 27 March 2020.
Geneva returns from Friday 13 December 2019 until Friday 10 April 2020 with increased frequency of 26 flights a week.
Grenoble returns from Saturday 14 December 2019 to Sunday 19 April 2020 with increased frequency of 4 flights a week.
Innsbruck returns from Sunday 8 December 2019 to Friday 24 April 2020 with a decreased frequency of 4 flights a week.
Nuremberg returns from Friday 29 November 2019 to Monday 6 January 2020.
Vienna returns from Sunday 27 October 2019 to Sunday 12 January 2020.
British Airways has launched a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Antalya, Turkey.
The route launches on Thursday 30 April 2020. It initially operates three times weekly, before progressively increasing to six times weekly in the summer peak.
The flight times vary by day, but flights typically leave Gatwick at around lunch time and depart from Antalya in the evening.
In other Gatwick related news, BA’s seasonal routes to Gibraltar and Limoges will not return this summer. These were due to return on 30 April and 22 May 2020 respectively.
BA will continue to serve Gibraltar year-round from Heathrow. Passengers whose flights from Gatwick to Gibraltar have been cancelled can be re-accommodated on BA services from Heathrow.
BA does not serve Limoges from any other London airport. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to a full refund. Alternatively, passengers should be able to choose an alternative BA destination in France. However, any consequential costs will be at passengers’ expense.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com
Affected passengers should contact BA or their travel agent.
There has been relatively little news so far this year on BA’s schedules for summer 2020. Further route news is expected for all London airports in the coming weeks.
London Gatwick Airfield (Image Credit: London Gatwick Airport)
British Airways is to transfer its route to Gran Canaria from London Heathrow to Gatwick from late October 2019.
This route has quite a bit of history. BA launched a winter seasonal service from Heathrow in 2013 and moved it to a year-round operation last year. BA did also plan to launch a service from Gatwick in 2015, but this got pulled before launch. Iberia Express did also launch the route from Heathrow in 2015, but this was since suspended.
It currently operates weekly under flight numbers BA489 and BA488 from London Heathrow on Saturdays in the summer and twice weekly on Saturday and Sunday in the winter.
When the route transfers to Gatwick, it will initially operate three times weekly in the winter season on Monday, Friday and Saturday under flight numbers BA2600 and BA2601. Days of operation and frequencies are likely to change in the summer season.
Based on current timetables, the last BA flight operates from Heathrow on Sunday 3 November and the first flights from Gatwick will operate on Friday 25 October.
Existing bookings from Heathrow will be cancelled. Affected passengers have the option of rebooking from Gatwick or flying from Heathrow to Madrid and taking a connecting flight on Iberia.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com
Affected passengers should contact BA or their travel agent.
