Categories

BREAKING: IAG launches new subsidiary at Gatwick to replace British Airways short haul operations

British Airways had previously said that they may not return to Gatwick even after the pandemic. At the time I thought this seemed unlikely. Now it all becomes clear, funnily enough, timed just as furlough is coming to an end. This is not a coincidence I’m sure. I think need to be very careful about worrying too much about competing with the likes of Easyjet. While BA need to remain reasonably competitive on price, there are definitely a lot of people that don’t want to fly a low-cost airline. They want to fly BA to have a better experience. So I can only pray they don’t diminish the experience along with the price. 

 

Gatwick was always a highly competitive market, and IAG/ BA now view that to run a sustainable airline in the current environment, they need a more competitive operating model. Because of that, they are proposing a new operating subsidiary to run alongside the existing British Airways long-haul Gatwick operation. This will allow them to rehire pilots and crew on different, no doubt cheaper terms. 

I would assume it will be a similar model to CityFlyer to serve short-haul routes to/from Gatwick from summer 2022. The summer schedule starts at the end of March. 

However, there is a lot we don’t know as yet. IAG were due to announce at lunchtime but as yet nothing as come out.

Things still to be answered:

  • Will the airline still be part of oneworld?
  • Will you still be able to earn the same Avios and tier points as for BA?
  • Will it be in BA livery or a completely separate airline?
  • Which routes will it take over?

I would expect some routes may move to Heathrow. It has already been confirmed that Jersey will remain at Heathrow for the foreseeable future.

Travel data and analytics expert Cirium have put together some interesting statistics on BA’s current Gatwick operation.

British Airways Gatwick Short-Haul Overview

  • British Airways have a schedule of 47 short-haul routes from Gatwick
  • However, their short-haul operations at Gatwick have been on hold since Spring 2020 due to Covid-19
  • If BA pull out of short-haul at the airport, 4 destinations will no longer have any service to Gatwick; Algiers, Cologne/Bonn, Genoa and Manchester.

In the peak summer month of July 2022

  • BA are currently scheduled to be the second largest airline at Gatwick, behind easyJet
  • BA have 1,881 short-haul flights scheduled from LGW, with 331,009 seats available
  • The largest destination by flights is Jersey, (now expected to be staying at Heathrow) followed by Malaga in Spain and Faro in Portugal.

I will be updating this article once more information is released. 

UPDATE: BA has confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it is in negotiations with unions over the new subsidiary. It is unlikely there will be much more news until these conclude. 

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
Reddit
WhatsApp
Pocket
Email
Flip
0 Shares
Related Topics

7 comments

  2. Re BA ‘leaving’ LGW: Thought it was a bit odd that our Feb flight to Innsbruck was cancelled this week and we were offered a LHR flight a few days earlier. Major BA strike looming?

    1. Hard to say. It’s more likely the pilots that will object as they already slashed cabin crew T&C to bare minimum. It’s likely some premium short haul routes will stay at Heathrow but it looks like the short haul flights will stay at Heathrow until end of March 22 when the new company is due to start.

  3. I don’t know the details around slot ‘ownership’ but the cynic in me foresees a statement in the future about a failure to reach agreement with the unions, and a request for Gatwick slots to be transferred to Vueling.
    Could that happen?

    1. I think it is more likely to be something with BA branding but operated by a different airline. I think (and hope) it’s unlikely to go over to Vueling.

  4. …so then what happens to the lounges? That’s a big space they have there right now and won’t be needed just for their long haul flights. And what about options to fly short haul Business Class? Will they still have this?

    1. My hope is that it will be like CityFlyer that is pretty much like BA in every respect but at present until they finish negotiating with the unions we won’t get any more details.

Comments are closed.