Freebird Airlines has returned to London’s Gatwick Airport.
The carrier was forced to suspend operations due to COVID-19.
The Turkish airline is now flying from LGW to Bodrum and Antalya.
The airline also flies from Manchester to Antalya.
Freebird Airlines aircraft photo gallery:
British Airways has reversed course on its plans for Gatwick Airport after reportedly reaching an agreement with the Unite union which represents cabin staff, engineers and ground staff.
The new agreement will now pave the way to create a new low-cost subsidiary at London’s Gatwick Airport.
BA needed the agreement in order to move forward in its plans to create a low-cost competitor to easyJet and other carriers at LGW.
Previously BA has publicly announced it was cancelling any LCC plans due to an earlier failure to reach an agreement with the unions. At that time, it also stated it was cancelling most short-haul operations at LGW.
British Airways’ pilots have previously voted in favor of the LCC proposals to operate short-haul flights at London Gatwick.
BA has not publicly commented. An announcement is now expected within weeks.
Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight from Doha to London Gatwick touched down on May 22 at London Gatwick Airport, where it was welcomed with a celebratory water salute. The new double daily service, operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, makes London Gatwick the award-winning airline’s sixth gateway into the United Kingdom and second gateway to London.
The new route will provide even more flexibility and convenience to passengers travelling to London, and will offer enhanced connectivity for passengers flying from the United Kingdom to Qatar Airways’ extensive global route network of more than 150 destinations. Over the summer period, flights to London Gatwick will further increase to 16 services per week on the popular route.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is delighted to be expanding its reach in both London and throughout the U.K. Earlier this month, we launched direct flights to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, clearly demonstrating our continued commitment to this market. We are very proud of our strong and extensive trade ties with the U.K. and look forward to offering our loyal passengers the chance to explore the newest and most exciting destinations within our global network.”
Gatwick Airport Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stewart Wingate, said: “I am delighted to mark the start of this double daily service to Doha today as Qatar Airways’ extensive route network offers passengers more choice of onward destinations, including those across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Qatar Airways is also one of the world’s premier airlines and provides a level of service that is sure to prove popular with our passengers.
“This new route also strengthens Gatwick’s growing long-haul network, which has more than 60 routes and we hope to grow it further still in coming months.”
This summer Qatar Airways will operate 95 flights to the U.K. per week, including six daily departures to London Heathrow, 16 weekly departures to London Gatwick and Manchester, and daily flights to Cardiff and Edinburgh, alongside seven flights per week to Birmingham.
The Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner features 22 seats in Business Class, and 232 in Economy Class. In addition, lower altitude-equivalent pressure, improved air-quality and optimal humidity coupled with large, electronically dimmable windows create dramatic vistas and provide passengers with extra natural light. Full-spectrum LED lighting also helps them adjust to changing time zones, allowing them to arrive at their destination feeling refreshed.
The airline recently revealed a host of forthcoming global destinations in line with its expedited expansion plans, including the announcement that Qatar Airways will be the first Gulf carrier to begin direct service to Luxembourg. Other exciting new destinations to be launched by the airline include Tallinn, Estonia; Valletta, Malta; Cebu and Davao, Philippines; Langkawi, Malaysia; Da Nang, Vietnam; Bodrum and Antalya, Turkey; Mykonos, Greece and Málaga, Spain.
Flights Schedule:
Doha – London Gatwick Flight Schedule:
Doha (DOH) to London Gatwick (LGW) QR 327 departs 08:30, arrives 13:30 daily
Doha (DOH) to London Gatwick (LGW) QR 329 departs 02:10, arrives 07:10 daily
Doha (DOH) to London Gatwick (LGW) QR 331 departs 15:00, arrives 20:00 Fri, Sat (from 15 Jun to 29 Sep)
London Gatwick – Doha Flight Schedule:
London Gatwick (LGW) to Doha (DOH) QR 328 departs 15:25, arrives 00:05 daily
London Gatwick (LGW) to Doha (DOH) QR 330 departs 09:00, arrives 17:40 daily
London Gatwick (LGW) to Doha (DOH) QR 332 departs 21:30, arrives 06:10 Fri, Sat (from 15 Jun to 29 Sep)
Photo: Qatar Airways.
Emirates (Dubai) is moving to a triple-daily all-Airbus A380 scheduled operation at London’s Gatwick Airport starting on January 1, 2016. The third daily A380 roundtrip flight will replace the lone existing Boeing 777-300 ER flight according to Airline Route.
The carrier dominates the Dubai – London market with five additional daily Airbus A380 flights to Dubai from nearby London Heathrow Airport. This is a total of eight daily Airbus A380 roundtrip flights in one market.
Copyright Photo: AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A380-861 A6-EDW (msn 103) with special “Rugby World Cup – England 2015” markings taxies at London (Heathrow).
Emirates aircraft slide show: 
Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian.com) (Oslo) has announced new weekly nonstop flights between Stockholm (Arlanda) and Bastia in Corsica starting on April 25. Additionally the airline will launch new twice-weekly nonstop flights between Madrid and Nice starting on March 29 as well as weekly flights between London (Gatwick) and Kefalonia in Greece on April 18.
Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8Q8 LN-NOD (msn 35280) with Sonja Henie on the tail approaches the runway at Gatwick Airport near London.
Norwegian aircraft slide show:
Iberia Express (Madrid) will start the twice-daily Madrid-London (Gatwick) route on March 29, 2015.
The company will also new service from Madrid to Paris (CDG) on September 7, 2015 and Manchester on September 8, 2015.
Copyright Photo: Ariel Shocron/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 EC-JSK (msn 2807) taxies at the Madrid (Barajas) base.
Iberia Express aircraft slide show:
London Gatwick Airport is the first to implement Amadeus’ cloud-based Airport-Collaborative Decision Making Portal (A-CDM) to improve collaborative decision-making processes, Amadeus has announced.
Gatwick is now one of a forward-thinking group of airports to join the European-wide A-CDM standard, with airports such as Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Madrid and Zurich.
However, Gatwick followed an innovative approach opting for Amadeus’ cost effective cloud technology to speed up the implementation time of A-CDM, rolling out the Amadeus portal to 300 users in just 8 weeks. Assisted by the Amadeus portal, LGW will handle 55 flights per hour from the world’s busiest runway and estimates up to 2 million additional passengers.
The A-CDM standard’s aim is to bring the entire airport ecosystem, of airport operators, airlines, ground handlers and air traffic management, together to operate more efficiently and transparently, sharing accurate information in a timely manner. This results in better air traffic management with fewer delays and increased capacity, as well as an improved passenger experience thanks to an integrated approach to operations.
Michael Ibbitson, Chief Information Officer of London Gatwick commented: “We have received extremely positive feedback from our Amadeus A-CDM Portal stakeholders. It is easy to use and enables them to make better decisions that contribute to smoother and more efficient operations. The portal supports all partners at the airport involved in activities from refuelling and de-icing and to ground handling and cargo. Those employees have access to real-time data about what’s happening across London Gatwick – it’s a game changer.”
He continued: “We constantly strive to embrace new technologies at London Gatwick that will improve the travel experience and operating environment. We estimate that thanks to Amadeus’ A-CDM Portal, we will be able to increase capacity to more than 40 million passengers on a single runway following wider adoption of the portal in the next year or so.”
John Jarrell, Head of Airport IT at Amadeus added: “Communication gaps still prevail in the airport ecosystem – a collaborative approach is key to align on aspects such as disruptions, flight information, number of bags on board and passengers in transit. We hope to see other airports follow Gatwick’s innovative use of the Amadeus A-CDM Portal to facilitate improved communications and operational efficiency.”
The Amadeus Portal and its customisation for London Gatwick is part of Amadeus’ broader commitment to work with airports to improve the passenger experience. Earlier this year, Amadeus published a whitepaper focused on attitudes to cloud computing in the airport industry. This included the viewpoints of over 20 senior IT leaders from the airport industry to investigate the business case for adopting cloud-based Common Use systems at airports.
Report by Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock from Manchester.
Top Photo: Amadeus.
Bottom Copyright Photo: London Gatwick Airport.
Mahan Air Tehran) today (December 15) today launches a new route to London (Gatwick) operating three days a week reportedly with Airbus A310-300s per Airline Route.
Virtual tour on Airbus A300: CLICK HERE
Previously on November 4, Mahan Air celebrated the launch of scheduled flights from Tehran to Beijing nonstop service linking the capitals of Iran and People’s Republic of China and marking the carrier’s 14th international destination. It is also the airline’s first regular flight to China.
The thrice weekly flights are operating via 299-seat Airbus A340-300 in two class configuration. Beijing is Mahan Air’s third new international route after Yerevan and Shiraz to Dubai which were inaugurated in summer 2014.
Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Mahan Air’s Airbus A310-304 EP-MNF (msn 547) arrives in Bangkok.
Mahan Air aircraft slide show:
Mahan Air route map:
Gambia Bird Airlines (Banjul) has been unable to resume flights to London (Gatwick) according to Proactive Investors. The west African airline had been planning to resume operations to London on October 17. The UK government through the Department of Transport did not renew its permit to operate to the UK due to the on-going Ebola crisis. The airline has been hit hard by the outbreak.
Previously Gambia Bird had extended the suspension of all flights to and from Monrovia, in Liberia, and to and from Freetown, in Sierra Leone, until September 28. 2014, due to the current public health situation in both countries.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Germania’s Airbus A319-112 D-ASTA (msn 4663) is seen in action at London’s Gatwick Airport.
Gambia Bird: 
Gambia Bird’s operating area is ground zero for the Ebola affected areas:
Gambia Bird Aircraft Slide Show:
Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) will launch daily nonstop service between Manchester International Airport and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport from June 2, 2015 as it increases its network between the U.K. and North America. The airline will also begin flying its first nonstop service between London-Heathrow and Newark Liberty International Airport effective March 29, 2015. Both routes will be operated in conjunction with joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic Airways (London).
Delta’s new Newark operation is part of a network update by Virgin Atlantic where Delta will operate one of Virgin’s two Newark services while Virgin Atlantic will start its first daily nonstop Manchester to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport service.
Delta has operated services from Manchester since June 1991 when its maiden flight departed from Atlanta. Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, has served the market since 1996 and also operates services to Orlando and Las Vegas from Manchester.
The updated joint venture network from London-Heathrow brings the daily number of services to the New York area to 10. Eight of these flights will operate to JFK and two to Newark.
Additionally Delta will launch a new Los Angeles-San Antonio, Texas route in April 2015. This new route will be operated by Compass Airlines.
In other news, Delta Air Lines employees from across the country will build or renovate affordable single family homes with Habitat for Humanity. This year’s fall builds will take place in six cities, including Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City and Seattle as well as in Los Angeles, a key international gateway for the airline. More than 2,300 Delta employees will participate in the projects, which began on September 8 and continue through October 17.
During the two-and-a-half-month long project, Delta will celebrate its 200th build with Habitat for Humanity. This milestone will be commemorated with the Seattle build, which will be partially funded through proceeds from Delta’s in-flight recycling program. This is the sixth home Delta has funded by recycling aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other materials from flights. More than 1 million pounds of material were recycled in 2013, and more than 8.5 million pounds have been recycled since the start of the program in 2007.
Through local and national support, Delta employees have helped build or rehab 199 Habitat homes in 11 countries around the world. Habitat is one of Delta’s core community partners in its Force for Global Good, a program that encourages employees to make a difference in the communities where they live, work and serve.
Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-332 ER N171DZ (msn 29690) in the special “Habitat for Humanity – Force for Global Good” livery, departs from London’s Gatwick Airport in the past.
Delta Air Lines (current): 