British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has announced a new seasonal weekend service from London Gatwick to Lyon.
The airline will fly from Gatwick to Lyon (Lyon–Saint-Exupéry airport) on Saturdays and Sundays from Saturday 15 December 2018 to Sunday 21 April 2019.
This will complement BA’s existing year round service from Heathrow to Lyon which operates up to three times daily. BA also flies from Gatwick to Grenoble three times weekly from Saturday 15 December 2018 to Sunday 31 March 2019.
It is of course possible to “mix and match” departure and arrival airports in London and France if that is convenient.
For full details of BA’s Gatwick winter schedule, please see here. Please also see here for seasonal winter ski and Christmas routes from London.
An update on the progress of the refurbishment of British Airways Boeing 777 fleet at Gatwick and the routes on which refurbished aircraft are expected to operate.
BA World Traveller cabin on LGW based Boeing 777 aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is now more than a third of its way through the refurbishment of its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft at London Gatwick.
The main reason for the refurbishment is to increase the number of seats in the World Traveller economy cabin from 9 to 10 a row.
At the moment three class Boeing 777-200 are being refurbishment. For these aircraft, BA has also installed a new World Traveller Plus premium economy seat and increased the number of seats in this cabin. It has decreased the number of Club World business class seats. The in-flight entertainment system has also been upgraded. Four class Boeing 777-200 aircraft will also be refurbished, but the overall change in seating configuration is much more modest.
As at Noveber 2018, six Boeing 777-200 aircraft, registrations G-VIIO, G-VIIP, G-VIIR, G-VIIT, G-VIIU and G-VIIX have been refurbished. Each refurbishment takes around four to six weeks.
Refurbished British Airways Boeing 777 World Traveller Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)
The initial plan was that up to 25 Boeing 777s will be subject to “densification”. Given, from anecdotal evidence, there appears to be no adverse customer reaction, it is highly likely that this will be extended to many more aircraft. Heathrow based Boeing 777s are expected to be refurbished in 2019.
Seat maps for 3 class Boeing 777 aircraft
If you are flying on a non-refurbished 9 abreast 3 class Boeing 777 you should see the following seat map (pictured left below) for your flight in the Manage My Booking tool:
Club World – Rows 1 – 11 (48 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 12 – 14 (24 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 16 – 40 (3-3-3 configuration)
If you are flying on a refurbished 10 abreast 3 class Boeing 777 you should see the following seat map (pictured right below) for your flight in the Manage My Booking tool:
Club World – Rows 1 – 4 (32 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 10 – 16 (52 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 20 – 46 (3-4-3 configuration)
BA will fly to Kos three times weekly from Wednesday 15 May to Saturday 26 October 2019 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. As is par the course for BA at Gatwick, flight times vary widely by day.
Flights will be operated with a mixture of Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft in the standard two class, EuroTraveller and Club Europe, configuration.
This should just be the start of a number of summer seasonal route announcements both at Heathrow and Gatwick.
In terms of coverage of Greece, this summer BA has flown to Crete, Corfu, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Mykonos, Santorini and Zakynthos from Heathrow. It has also flown to Crete, Rhodes and Thessaloniki from Gatwick and Mykonos and Skiathos from London City.
Cologne Cathedral (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
British Airways has launched a new winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Cologne.
The airline will fly to Cologne four times weekly on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday from Friday 16 November 2018 to Friday 29 March 2019. The exact flight times vary widely by day. This will be the only direct route between London Gatwick and Cologne.
It’s worth noting that Cologne is very easily reached by train from Dusseldorf airport. Therefore, it should be easy to “mix and match” this route with BA’s six daily flights between London Heathrow and Dusseldorf, if convenient.
BA also serves Friedrichshafen and Nuremburg on a winter seasonal basis at Gatwick. Please see here for BA’s Gatwick winter schedule. Further route announcements may be made over the next few weeks.
BA is progressively the number of economy seats on Boeing 777 aircraft at Gatwick from 9 to 10 seats a row. Here is an update on the progress of the refurbishment.
BA World Traveller cabin on LGW based Boeing 777 aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is now more than a third of its way through the refurbishment of its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft at London Gatwick.
The refurbishment programme includes new seats in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus, new in-flight entertainment systems and cabin interiors. Most importantly of all, the seats in World Traveller are increased from 9 to 10 a row.
Please see here for images of the first refurbished aircraft which were unveiled on Monday 5 March 2018.
At the moment only three class Boeing 777-200 aircraft are being refurbished. As at November 2018, six Boeing 777-200 aircraft, registrations G-VIIO, G-VIIP, G-VIIR, G-VIIT, G-VIIU, and G-VIIX have been refurbished. Each refurbishment takes around a month. Once the Gatwick fleet is complete, BA will then refurbish some Heathrow aircraft.
Seating Plans Of Refurbished Aircraft
BA has updated the seat maps on its website to include the new cabin configuration.
If you are flying on a 9 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:
Club World – Rows 1 – 11 (40 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 12 – 14 (24 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 16 – 40 (3-3-3 configuration)
If you are flying on a 10 abreast Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:
British Airways “The hub without the hubbub” TV ad 1993
British Airways is starting to piece together its schedules for the Winter 2018 season which officially begins on Saturday 28 October 2018.
An extensive list of changes for London Heathrow has been published.
Here are known changes at London Gatwick so far. Note this is very much work in progress. Further changes, particularly to short-haul, are expected to be announced. Also, it is expected that significant changes will be announced for Summer 2019 as BA beds in the extra slots it has acquired from Monarch.
Flights at London Gatwick can be booked now at ba.com
Long-Haul Changes
Cape Town resumes for the winter, three times weekly, from Monday 12 November 2018 to Saturday 30 March 2019.
Las Vegas will now operate year round.
Lima is suspended for the winter from Friday 26 October 2018 until Sunday 31 March 2019.
Male resumes for the winter from Sunday 28 October 2018 to Friday 29 March 2019.
Oakland is suspended from Saturday 13 October 2018. It was planned to resume on Monday 1 April 2019, but the route is now permanently suspended.
British Airways has confirmed it has suspended its route from London Gatwick to Oakland, California from Monday 22 October 2018.
The last flight will operate on Saturday 20 October 2018. The route launched in March 2017. Like the launch of Fort Lauderdale and New York JFK, it was a clear competitive response to the growth of Norwegian at London Gatwick. Norwegian will continue to fly to Oakland at Gatwick.
BA has not yet published any official guidance in response to the cancellation. However, if your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund. Passengers are also likely to be offered the opportunity to change their flight to one of BA’s twice daily services from London Heathrow to San Francisco. Note that in this instance any consequential costs such as additional ground transportation would be at your own expense.
BA appears to be using the spare capacity arising from the suspension to make its summer seasonal route to Las Vegas year round.
Affected passengers should contact either BA or their travel agent.
Update: BA has since stated that the route will resume in Summer 2019 and the route is currently showing as scheduled to resume on Monday 1 April 2019.
Update (2): This route will now not resume in 2019.
Update (3): The last flight on this route will now operate on Saturday 13 October 2018.
BA World Traveller cabin on LGW based Boeing 777 aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has today, Monday 5 March 2018, unveiled images of its refurbished Boeing 777s which will operate on selected long-haul routes at London Gatwick from the summer of 2018.
BA took delivery of its first refurbished aircraft last week. It features an entirely new World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabin. The first routes to operate the new cabin are Punta Cana, Cancun and Kingston. Please see here for full details of the expected routes for 2018.
British Airways has increased frequencies on routes from Gatwick to Alicante, Faro, Lanzarote, Madeira, Malaga and Tenerife for summer 2018. It has also added new routes at Gatwick to Gibraltar, Mahon Menorca, and Palma Mallorca.
British Airways “The hub without the hubbub” TV ad 1993
BA has started to firm up its new schedules at London Gatwick after the acquisition of more than 20 daily pairs of slots from the former airline Monarch. This is equivalent to an extra 150 flights a week.
BA has had to move quickly as it is required to use the slots 80% of the time or risk forfeiting them.
In terms of immediate actions, BA has added extra frequencies on winter ski routes like Grenoble and Turin in February and March as well as Tenerife South in the February half-term. It has also chartered aircraft and crews from Germania and Titan Airways to operate certain flights. These are now showing as “Operated by ST” or “Operated by ZT” in timetables on ba.com If you have an existing booking it should be clear in the Manage My Booking tool which airline is operating your flight.
Frequency increases on existing Gatwick routes:
In the peak summer schedule (late May to late September), BA has increased frequencies on a number of existing Gatwick routes compared to the previous year:
In 2018, BA will increase the number of economy seats on some Boeing 777 aircraft at London Gatwick from 9 to 10 seats a row. Here are details of the routes on which the reconfigured Boeing 777s will operate in 2018.
BA World Traveller cabin on LGW based Boeing 777 aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is now more than a third of its way through the refurbishment of its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft at London Gatwick.
In short, this means that the number of seats in the World Traveller economy cabin would increase from 9 to 10 a row.
At the same time, BA will also increase the number of World Traveller Plus premium economy seats and decrease the number of Club World business class seats.
At the moment only three class Boeing 777-200 are being refurbishment. As at November 2018, six Boeing 777-200 aircraft, registrations G-VIIO, G-VIIP, G-VIIR, G-VIIT, G-VIIU and G-VIIX, have been refurbished. Each refurbishment takes four to six weeks.
Please see here for images of the refurbished aircraft which was unveiled on Monday 5 March 2018.
BA’s initial plan to reconfigure London Gatwick Boeing 777s – November 2016 (Image Credit: International Airlines Group)
Initially, up to 25 Boeing 777s will be subject to “densification”. However, you can be confident that the financial performance of refurbished aircraft and customer feedback scores will be monitored very closely.
How do I know if I will be flying on a “densified” Boeing 777?
If you are flying on a 9 abreast 3 class Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:
Club World – Rows 1 – 11 (40 seats)
World Traveller Plus – Rows 12 – 14 (24 seats)
World Traveller – Rows 16 – 40 (3-3-3 configuration)
If you are flying on a 10 abreast 3 class Boeing 777 you should see the following cabin configurations on the seat map for your reservation in the Manage My Booking tool:
