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Which nine airports can you fly to from the UK but not from London?

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I occasionally see a bit of analysis online and kick myself for not thinking of it first, because it is quirky / interesting / unique.

Here’s a great example, from James Pearson on LinkedIn, who writes for Simple Flying.

There are nine airports you can fly to from the UK, but not from any of the London airports. Which are they?

According to Cirium data, in the first nine months of 2023 there were flights from London airports to over 390 destinations.

For nine airports, though, you will need to leave the cosy confines of London behind and head north. (Or, of course, fly from London and change somewhere.)

Here are the nine airports – note that many of these routes are seasonal:

  • Brussels Charleroi – British Airways can get you to Brussels International, but if you need to go to Charleroi you can fly there from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester.
  • Donegal – the only UK flight is on Loganair from Glasgow
  • Esbjerg, Denmark – if you want to fly there directly, you’ll need to head to Aberdeen or Newcastle. Again, Loganair is the carrier.
  • Ohrid, North Macedonia – you’ll be taking Tui from Manchester if you want a direct flight
  • Paris Beauvais – you can get here from Belfast International, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford and Manchester, but nowhere further south
  • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – again, Tui from Manchester is the only way to fly this route direct
  • Reggio di Calabria, Italy – Ryanair will start flying this route from Manchester this year
  • Varadero, Cuba – again, Tui from Manchester is your friend here
  • Weeze, Germany – Ryanair can get you here from Edinburgh

Some of these cities have been served from London in the past, mainly on Ryanair and Tui, but apparently there have never been flights from the London area to Weeze or Reggio di Calabria.

Thanks again to James Pearson for doing the legwork here.

Category

General

Comments (76)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • AirMax says:
    17 Feb17 February 10:15

    Weeze is a fairly important Ryanair base. Worth bearing in mind in event of disruption if you are stuck in southern Europe and need an alternative route to UK eg via Dusseldorf.

  • Mark says:
    17 Feb17 February 10:25

    Used to fly to Weeze from Stansted on RyanAir

  • Nick says:
    17 Feb17 February 10:40

    Who’d have thought, a Simple Flying “analyst” getting loads of basic stuff wrong 😁

    • TGLoyalty says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:45

      Who would have though Weeze would illicit so much passion either

      • Erico1875 says:
        17 Feb17 February 18:54

        Flew there for £1 each from Edi.
        That was in the days it was a free for all for seats

  • forti says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:40

    The removal of London to PVR by TUI is a nuisance as the alternative (via USA/Canada etc.) makes an already long flight even longer. Even the route LON-MAD-PVR is no longer served.

  • Londonsteve says:
    17 Feb17 February 14:24

    Weeze was RAF Laarbruch in a previous life. When I flew there from STN with Ryanair in the late Noughties there was still plenty of evidence of its previous life, including aircraft shelters to keep hardware invisible to passing spy satellites, as well as a tangible feeling that you were navigating a post-war UK ‘new town’ with (abandoned) housing estate with houses built in a UK terraced style all laid out in lots of squiggly ‘closes’ that were no doubt named after Churchill and Bomber Harris in the recent past. It was a bizarre experience having just got off a Ryanair flight.

    • LD27 says:
      17 Feb17 February 22:04

      Seem to recall flying to Weeze on 99p Ryanair flights from STN. Was there an RAF museum there?

  • Ant says:
    18 Feb18 February 01:33

    Ryanair used to fly to Esbjerg from Stansted too. The airport is basically a shed and most of the flights are helicopters going to the offshore platforms.

    Esbjerg itself is pretty small but it’s quite nice to go to from there to Ribe or Fano or the Blavand beaches.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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