BA in Gatwick takeover *

Thursday 9 December sees British Airways opening up an entirely new long-haul route from Gatwick Airport.

In conjunction with oneworld partner Qatar Airways, with whom it will codeshare, and in pre-pandemic days flew three times daily, BA will initially offer a three-class daily Boeing 777 service to Doha.  The airline is well established at Gatwick with Caribbean services using similar aircraft.  Qatar Airways currently flies to Doha four times daily from Heathrow, three times weekly from Manchester, and four times weekly out of Edinburgh.  See also Qatar Airways and Formula One in this week’s BTN.

Although there is no formal announcement yet on the position regarding short-haul operations at Gatwick, BA has registered the title ‘EuroFlyer’ at Companies House.

In a statement to staff last week BA Chief Executive and Chairman Sean Doyle said: “Our plans for a new BA subsidiary to fly short-haul at Gatwick are progressing well, and whilst we still have some further negotiations to sort, it looks likely that we will be up and running to fly the summer schedule.”  A start date of 27 March is expected.

www.ba.com

www.qatarairways.com

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

John Turnbull, United Kingdom

Looks like this will be Dan-Air reborn at Gatwick. When BA absorbed Dan-Air in 1992 the company was renamed British Airways European Operations at Gatwick Limited. BA only dissolved this entity in 2014, will EuroFlyer simply be a reincarnation?

Malcolm Ginsberg, United Kingdom

Mr Davidson makes a fair point. With this medium haul ‘hub’ route BTN believes that between 70/80% of passengers are connecting. Qatar Airways offers a tour of the city for travellers who are taking an onward flight which would include the spectacular museum, depending on time. A full Qatar ON TOUR is planned for the early new year. Please also refer to “Qatar Airways and Formula One” in this issue. https://www.btnews.co.uk/article/18402

Malcolm Ginsberg, London

Although a modest six hours in either direction Doha is considered long haul, although Tel Aviv is normally called 'meadium haul. Both pay the government's long haul tax!

John Davidson, France

Commenting on: "Qatar Airways currently flies to Doha four times daily from Heathrow, three times weekly from Manchester, and four times weekly out of Edinburgh." It would be nice to know if the pax on any of these flights are using Doha as a hub or what percentage are actually staying in Qatar. There's plenty to do for a few days (the Museum of Islamic Art is good for a full day, but get a guide). Other than that?

Timothy Procter, United Kingdom

And what is this new long-haul route then?