Gatwick exploits Heathrow’s woes by luring major airlines to shift global flights to its Sussex hub
It seems Gatwick Airport is increasingly taking advantage of the ongoing travel chaos at Britain’s largest airport, Heathrow, to lure major airlines to shift intercontinental and other major flights to its hub.
The most prominent airline to do so, so far, has become Emirates, as the Emirati aviation giant confirmed on Friday it will increase the frequency of its services to and from London Gatwick airport with the addition of a third daily flight from Wednesday.
“This third daily flight will help serve high demand from customers travelling to and from London this summer. It will also provide additional seats to accommodate Emirates passengers affected by capacity adjustments on flights from London Heathrow, which will be made to help ease operational pressures at the airport,” the airline said in a statement sent to Morning Wire
Regarding the ongoing turmoil at Heathrow, Emirates said “customers impacted by capacity adjustments at London Heathrow will be contacted directly by the airline or their travel agent.”
It added: “The airline is working closely with its travel partners to re-accommodate any impacted bookings and ensure smooth onward flight connections for customers to reach their planned destination.”
To stress how Gatwick is stepping in now Heathrow has imposed a passenger cap of 100,000 passengers per day, Emirates said it is “grateful for the support of London Gatwick Airport, along other partners on the ground who have been working closely with the airline to secure sufficient ground handling resources to deal with the additional demand, and provide passengers with a smooth and reliable journey.”
Emirates also said it plans to re-start five weekly flights from 1 August to London Stansted, with daily services commencing from September onwards.