Gatwick Airport Blog

Runway delays at Gatwick

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:47:37 BST

The number of on-time flights departing Gatwick Airport has decreased significantly since the hub was bought by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in 2009, says a newspaper.

Almost 10% of commercial aircraft movements at Gatwick were delayed by more than an hour in 2010, according to the London Evening Standard, a two-fold increase, when compared to the figures for the previous year. The development stands at odds with a promise made by the GIP shortly after the fund forked out £1.5bn for the Crawley hub in October 2009, to “provide a better experience for passengers”.

Many airports experienced higher than normal delays and cancellations in 2010, due to heavy snowfall and a dusting of volcanic ash, but Gatwick’s runway punctuality problems are believed to be an internal issue, rather than something thrust upon the hub by Mother Nature. The true cause of the delays is not clear, but the fact that a spokesperson for Gatwick has not only acknowledged the issue, but presented figures to show improvement during the first few months of 2011, suggests that the GIP is concerned with the London hub’s time-keeping skills.

On-board delays, which can include hold-ups on the taxiway or in the air prior to landing, increased by 60% during 2010. The independent information source, flightontime.info, notes that some passengers had to wait up to 20 minutes between taking their seat and the plane taking off, a good three minutes longer than the national average. Perhaps even worse, however, is the steady increase in the number of passengers that are delayed by three or more hours, up from 0.79% in 2009, to 1.4% in 2010.

Gatwick bosses claim that airplane punctuality has already increased by 10% this year. “We will continue to work with our airlines and their handling agents to drive better performance", the spokesperson promised.

Trade points for flights at Gatwick

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:55:07 GMT

Beginning on March 22 2011, Nectar Card holders will be able to trade their points for flights at Gatwick, Bristol, Manchester, and any other UK airport served by easyJet.

Nectar, whose slogan is “you deserve it”, rewards shoppers for spending cash at particular supermarkets, websites, and high street outlets. Cardholders are typically awarded a number of points relative to the price of their purchase, which are then stored on the card for later use. Cards containing more than 500 points (equivalent to £2.50 in cash), can be used to pay for cinema tickets, train journeys, and a variety of other goods and services.

J. Sainsbury, founder of the Nectar scheme, claims that flights to 550 destinations in 30 countries will soon be available to cardholders. As the price of a flight to Spain or France (for example) often exceeds £100, holidaymakers will need to accrue more than 20,000 points before their Nectar Card has sufficient value to cover the price of a ticket. However, easyJet will accept payment using a combination of points and cash, helping shoppers acquire a discount on their flight or any associated taxes.

Head at J. Sainsbury, Justin King, said that the option to spend Nectar Points on flights was one of the most popular requests from cardholders. “Nearly a million collectors have enough points to pay for flights to popular destinations like Malaga", the chief executive explained. "It is estimated that approximately 300,000 flights per annum will be booked using Nectar Points.”

EasyJet boss, Carolyn McCall, referred to the carrier's newest partnership as “exciting”. Mrs. McCall noted that Nectar Points could theoretically be used on any flight, on any day, including more than 80 from Gatwick Airport.

The official website of Nectar Points is asking cardholders to visit the site on March 22, if they wish to learn more about how to book tickets using their Nectar Card.

Ukrainian carrier arrives at Gatwick

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:50:24 GMT

An airline from Eastern Europe has launched a new flight from Gatwick Airport to the city of Kiev in the Ukraine. The route, which is AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines’ first ever service to the UK, could lure an extra 65,000 annual passengers to the Crawley hub.

Founded in 1994, AeroSvit specialises in flights to and from Russia, Kazakhstan, and its native Ukraine. The airline is the largest carrier in its homeland in terms of passengers carried, and claims to be the first airline based in the republic to offer “high quality service” and “modern standards of aviation security” to its customers.

AeroSvit’s Kiev service is the 18th new route to be introduced at Gatwick since the hub was bought by Global Infrastructure Partners in 2009, according to the airport’s chief, Stewart Wingate.

The Gatwick-Kiev route will operate five times a week, with no flights on Saturdays and Sundays. Connecting flights from Kiev’s Boryspil Airport to the Ukrainian cities of Odessa, Lugansk, and Ivano-Frankivsk are also available, opening up a wider area of Eastern Europe to the adventurous traveller.

Mr. Wingate said that AeroSvit’s decision to debut at Gatwick was indicative of the hub’s growing attractiveness to holidaymakers and airlines. “Our ambition is to become London’s airport of choice for passengers”, the chief executive explained. “This latest news highlights the progress we’re making.”

AeroSvit is the second airline in four months to strike a deal with bosses at the Crawley hub. Last year, Air Berlin abandoned two routes out of Stansted Airport, and moved part of its fleet to Gatwick. The German carrier cited better transport links at the Crawley hub as the impetus for the decision. AeroSvit boss, Alexander Avdieiev, has also commended the “excellent” links to London available around Gatwick Airport.

January proves lucrative for Monarch

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:58:14 GMT

Self-proclaimed 'leading leisure airline' Monarch Airways reported a huge rise in the number of passengers choosing to fly with the veteran carrier in January 2011. Compared to the same period last year, 35,933 extra holidaymakers travelled on Monarch’s routes from 10 UK hubs, including Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Monarch says that the increase, equal to 24.07%, means that January 2011 was a record-breaking month for the carrier, and the best start to a year ever experienced by the 44-year-old airline. Load factors, defined by Monarch as the “number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available", were also up by 2%, from 76.75% in January 2010 to 78.74% in January 2011.

Destinations in southwestern Europe and the Mediterranean proved to be the most popular routes offered by the airline, as the cold weather in December encouraged UK holidaymakers to seek warmer climes.

Monarch is doing well. February’s press release was almost identical to earlier news items from the airline, which indicated that traffic levels for December and October 2010 were up 5.57% and 7.03% respectively. Load factors for December increased 12.88% over 2009, another record-breaking achievement for the airline. Alicante and Malaga in Spain were two of the most lucrative destinations during the last quarter of 2010 according to the airline.

With regard to January’s figures, Monarch cited the addition of a new route to Majorca from Gatwick and Manchester as a possible reason for the airline’s winter successes. From April 2011, the carrier will also increase capacity on seven routes from Gatwick, including Faro in Portugal and Lanzarote. Flights from Manchester Airport to six ‘sun and sea’ destinations will also have more seats throughout the summer season.

Gatwick hotels 'benefit from snow'

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:48:19 GMT

Inclement weather has been a staple of television news in recent weeks. The city of Chicago, USA, was buried beneath 20 inches of snow yesterday, while Queensland, Australia, was torn apart by Cyclone Yasi, believed to be the strongest storm ever to hit the state before it made landfall yesterday.

Closer to home, the UK suffered through several weeks of snow and freezing temperatures during December, with many businesses forced to close their doors to customers and employees alike. However, a consultancy firm, PKF, has revealed that last year’s snowstorm was not a total loss for British business.

Hotels in the area surrounding Gatwick and Heathrow airports actually benefitted from the plague of flight cancellations and delays that followed the first snowfall, posting an increased room uptake rate, as stranded passengers hunted down cheap accommodation.

London Heathrow Airport, which recently spent half a million pounds on new snow-clearing equipment, only to end up closed anyway, helped local hotels achieve a 10.6% boost in room occupancy, up to 79.5% overall. Hotels near Gatwick Airport also recorded higher occupancy rates for December 2010, up 15.5% to 73.6%. The popularity of rooms caused a hike in prices. Rates increased to £69.19 per night at Gatwick, and £75.97 at Heathrow, an average rise of around 14%.

The situation in London contrasted with that in Scotland, where occupancy at Edinburgh Airport hotels slumped to 59.2%. In comparison, accommodation near the Scottish hub managed to fill 67.8% of their rooms during December 2009. Robert Barnard, a partner of PKF, blamed “people’s inability to visit the city” for the disappointing figures at Edinburgh. The airport was closed eight times in two months due to snowy conditions.

In "the regions," a term that presumably alludes to East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, and the other airports outside London, occupancy was down by 2.5%, to 57.4%. “December proved that heavy snowfall can be both good and bad for hoteliers,” explained Robert Barnard.

Air Southwest pulls plug on Plymouth route

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:11:47 GMT

Air Southwest is to terminate all services between Plymouth and Newquay airports, and London Gatwick from February 1 2011. The purple-and-white carrier cited a slump in the number of passengers flying the route, and an 18% hike in landing fees at Gatwick International, as the impetus for the cull.

Ironically, Air Southwest was created in 2003 to combat a shortfall in flights between London and the southwest, following the departure of UK flag-carrier, British Airways, from Devon and Cornwall. Southwest operated the Gatwick route uninterrupted until December 2010, when, under new owner, Eastern Airways, the carrier issued a ‘use it or lose it’ warning to local travellers, as sales plummeted. Eastern chief, Peter Davies, was frank - “if we don't get enough passengers, then we can't fly the route.” Air Southwest went on to make a loss of £3.94m at the end of 2010.

Since the beginning of January, local news website, This is Plymouth, has published increasingly desperate pleas from business leaders to Air Southwest, asking the airline to reconsider (or at least postpone) the termination of its Gatwick routes. The London link has “psychological importance” to overseas investors, says the newspaper. Though, perhaps even more distressing for local businesses, is the “inextricable” link between Air Southwest’s fortunes, and those of Plymouth Airport. The hub would likely face closure if the airline packed up its planes and disappeared.

Passengers who are expecting to fly with Air Southwest after February 1 will be ‘rescued’ by budget airline, Flybe, and train service, First Great Western (FGW). Flybe pledged to “assist Air Southwest in any way possible,” after the stricken Southwest approached the blue-and-white carrier for assistance. Equally, FGW will provide free, first class travel to ticketholders. The decision was made after Plymouth Council asked the rail service for a “response,” earlier this month.

Newquay Airport retains a route to Gatwick, courtesy of Flybe, but Plymouth will need to lure a new airline to its runway in order to remain operational. Unfortunately, the tiny hub can only support the type of Bombardier Dash aircraft used by Air Southwest and Flybe, among others, which severely limits the number of carriers that can be persuaded to fly from the Devon airport.