Travel question of the day: Simon Calder on Gatwick's new long-haul routes
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Q There was an article with the headline “Gatwick to launch 20 new long-haul routes” in our local newspaper. The airlines mentioned are British Airways, Norwegian, Cathay Pacific and WestJet. I travel frequently to Hong Kong and the US, and would love to know more. Do you have any more detailed information, please? I am about to plan trips for June and August.
Shirley Bach, Hove, East Sussex
A Gatwick’s chief executive, Stewart Wingate, announced last month that the West Sussex airport is joining the “premier league” of world airports, which he defined as those with more than 50 long-haul routes. That milestone will be reached with the launch of 20 “new” intercontinental services this year. The reason I put “new” in quotes is because many of the services are resurrected routes and/or duplicate existing services. For example, British Airways is re-starting flights to New York JFK, which is currently already served by Norwegian. Elsewhere in North America, Boston, Oakland (serving San Francisco) and a half-dozen destinations across Canada from St John’s in Newfoundland to Vancouver are welcome additions to the schedules, but not exactly new. Neither are the Latin American links to San José and Lima, capitals of Costa Rica and Peru respectively (though it will be the first non-stop service to the latter). And Cathay Pacific is simply returning to the airport it first served from Hong Kong in the 1980s - inconveniently for you, from September.
These are all valuable additions to the Gatwick network, providing travellers from Sussex, Surrey, Kent and south London with more options from their local airport. Gatwick’s lower handling charges compared with Heathrow mean that (all other things being equal) fares to New York on BA and Hong Kong on Cathay should be cheaper from the Sussex airport.
And any increase in competition tends to push fares lower and standards higher.
Naturally Mr Wingate is using the expansion of long-haul routes to support Gatwick’s campaign for the next runway in South East England. A decision on that subject is due by the summer, though the EU referendum may be used as a reason for politicians to kick that particular can down the road.
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