Which long haul destinations can you fly from London Gatwick airport?

Last month, London Gatwick airport announced its 50th long haul destination as Ethiopian Airlines returns with direct flights to Addis Ababa from 21st November.

According to Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer at Gatwick:

“Returning to 50 long-haul routes is a milestone moment for London Gatwick. While we’re delighted to offer passengers such an expansive range of short-haul routes across Europe, we’re also proud to provide connections to an increasing range of destinations around the world.

These services are vital not only for offering people across London and the South East an excellent choice of holiday locations, or for visiting family and friends, but also for supporting local and regional businesses. Whether that’s outbound trade or inbound tourism, growing London Gatwick’s long-haul network is crucial for economic opportunities across the region.”

There were flights to 187 destinations from Gatwick last month, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, with overall capacity at 95.8% of 2019 levels.

Whilst a large percentage of passengers will be flying to Europe and other short haul destinations from Gatwick, the airport has a surprisingly large contingent of longer routes. This is for a number of reasons including additional passenger choice (eg. Emirates) or simply because Heathrow is congested and Gatwick has the slots available to operate these services (eg. Ethiopian’s return to the airport).

This got me thinking that it would be interesting to see a full list of long haul routes operated from Gatwick in one place. I asked Gatwick if they could provide one and they kindly obliged! It is interesting to note the strength of TUI, an airline that we rarely cover on HfP.

Accra, Ghana	British Airways
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Ethiopian Airlines
Ahmedabad, India	Air India
Amritsar, India	Air India
Antigua	British Airways
Aruba	British Airways
Banjul, Gambia	TUI
Boa Vista (Rabil), Cape Verde	TUI
Boston (Logan), USA	JetBlue, Norse Atlantic
Bridgetown, Barbados	British Airways, TUI, Norse Atlantic
Calgary, Canada	WestJet
Cancun, Mexico	British Airways, TUI
Cape Town, South Africa	British Airways
Dakar (Blaise), Senegal	TUI
Doha, Qatar	Qatar Airways, British Airways
Dubai, UAE	Emirates
Georgetown, Guyana	British Airways
Goa, India	Air India
Grenada	British Airways
Hanoi, Vietnam (ends 10/23)	Bamboo Airways
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Bamboo Airways
Ilha Do Sal, Cape Verde	TUI
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	Saudia
Khartoum, Sudan	Badr
Kingston, Jamaica	British Airways
Kochi, India	Air India
Las Vegas, USA	British Airways
Liberia, Costa Rica	TUI
Los Angeles, USA	Norse Atlantic
Mauritius	British Airways, Air Mauritius
Miami, USA	Norse Atlantic
Montego Bay, Jamaica	TUI, Norse Atlantic
Montreal (Dorval), Canada	Air Transat
New York (JFK), USA	British Airways, Delta, Norse, JetBlue
Orlando, USA	British Airways, Norse Atlantic
Orlando (Melbourne), USA	TUI
Phuket, Thailand	TUI
Port Of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago	British Airways
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic	British Airways, TUI
Quebec City, Canada	Air Transat
San Francisco, USA	Norse Atlantic
San Jose, Costa Rica	British Airways
Shanghai (Pu Dong), China	Air China, China Eastern
St Kitts	British Airways
St Lucia (Hewanorra)	British Airways, TUI
Tampa, USA	British Airways
Tobago	British Airways
Toronto, Canada	Air Transat
Vancouver, Canada	British Airways
Washington Dulles, USA	Norse Atlantic

London Gatwick eyes future growth

With the pandemic largely out of the way, Gatwick has revived plans to bring its Northern Runway, currently a taxiway, into intermittent use. Per the Gatwick website:

“The Northern Runway is currently limited to acting as a taxiway, only available when the Main Runway is out of use. The planning application proposes repositioning the centre line of the Northern Runway 12 metres north to allow dual runway operations, aligning with international safety standards.

Construction could start in 2025 and be completed and ready for operational use by the end of the decade. The proposals are low impact, with most construction taking place within the current airport boundary.

Bringing the Northern Runway into routine use alongside the Main Runway would unlock new capacity and allow for a more efficient and resilient operation.If approved the £2.2 billion privately financed plan would be one of the largest capital investment projects in the region for decades. And it would help the airport meet future passenger demand by serving around 75 million passengers a year by the late 2030s.”

The Development Consent Order has been accepted by the Planning Inspectorate for examination in the next stage of the planning process.

Even if planning approval is granted, a two-runway Gatwick Airport would not be able to rival Heathrow as the Northern Runway would be significantly shorter. This would restrict it to being used by smaller aircraft during peak hours of operation.