@SeanM1997

British Airways are reported to have axed plans to revive short haul operations at London Gatwick Airport, with all short haul flights removed from sale (excluding daily flights to Glasgow and Manchester). With the second largest carrier at Gatwick significantly reducing operations, which airlines could be interested in buying slot s and expand or add a presence at the UK's second busiest airport? London Gatwick has been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Norwegian Air and Virgin Atlantic have already closed its bases at the airport, whilst many long haul carriers have moved operations to Heathrow - including Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Emirates and Rwandair. Whilst some of these airlines are forecast to return in Summer 2022, it is unclear to what extent they will return or if they would remain at Heathrow (if they can obtain long term slots). All this means there will be a great number of available slots at London Gatwick for new and incumbent airlines to base a...

3 June 2021 Vueling announced a new route from Santiago de Compostela to London Gatwick, with summer seasonal flights commencing 23 July 2021. Vueling previously served the route in 2016 but only lasted one summer season. Vueling currently serves eight other destinations from London Gatwick - Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Florence, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Rome Fiumicino and Valencia. London Gatwick will be the 17th route served from Santiago de Compostela on Vueling. This route will compete directly against easyJet and indirectly against Ryanair. In 2019, 22,084 passengers travelled on Ryanair's London Stansted to Santiago de Compostela in 2019 (down 35% compared to 2018) whilst 115,128 passengers travelled on easyJet's London Gatwick to Santiago de Compostela route in 2019 (up 50% compared to 2018). In Peak Summer 2021, Ryanair will serve the London Stansted to Santiago de Compostela route seven times weekly, easyJet will serve the London Gatwick to Santiago de Com...

On 5 March 2020, Flybe ceased operations, leading to many routes across the United Kingdom being cut. At Belfast City, Flybe had 70.3% of total seats and 80.3% of movements with a total of 679,927 scheduled departure seats. However, this gave Belfast City an opportunity - to be less reliant on one carrier and to spread its operations across many. First came Loganair - adding flights from Aberdeen and Inverness followed by Eastern Airways launching Southampton flights. In July 2020, BA CityFlyer announced a London City route from September 2020 before Stobart Air added 6 routes from Belfast City under the Aer Lingus Regional brand - Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester. This led to the first base at Belfast City following the collapse of Flybe - albeit at reduced frequencies. Finally in 2020, Loganair announced a new route from Dundee, the first route which was not previously served by Flybe. Yet it was in 2021 when Belfast City really f ound their...