British Airways plans new low-cost short-haul business at Gatwick
Airline looks to shake up routes at UK’s second busiest airport in wake of pandemic effect on travel
British Airways is planning to replace its short-haul operation at Gatwick airport with a new low-cost business, as passenger demand continues to suffer in the pandemic.
The International Airlines Group-owned carrier said on Thursday that it was “working with our unions on proposals for a short-haul operation” at the UK’s second-busiest airport. It declined to comment further. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Travel website Headforpoints.com reported on Thursday that BA had emailed staff to say that it was considering “a new operating subsidiary to run alongside our existing long-haul Gatwick operation” that would serve the airport from next summer.
“This was previously a highly competitive market,” the note continued, “but for us to run a sustainable airline in the current environment, we need a competitive operating model.”
It added that the proposed new business would “help us to be both agile and competitive, allowing us to build a sustainable short-haul presence at Gatwick over time”.
It would not be the first time BA has attempted to set up a low-cost airline, should the mooted plans go ahead. In 1998, the company founded Go Fly, which operated flights between London Stansted and Europe before ultimately being bought out by rival easyJet four years later.
Like its competitors, IAG has incurred huge losses over the past 18 months as the pandemic has grounded flights around the world. IAG’s airlines, which also include Aer Lingus and Iberia, flew just 20 per cent of their normal flight schedules in the first quarter, causing revenue to fall 79 per cent, year on year, to €968m.
The group has been hit especially hard compared with many of its main competitors in Europe owing to its heavy exposure to UK and transatlantic travel, with the UK government only last month reopening quarantine-free travel for double-vaccinated travellers from the US.
BA this year moved all of its short-haul flights from Gatwick to Heathrow in response to low demand.
Sean Doyle, BA’s chief executive, last month said the company was “adjusting [its] business model to anticipate what will be a lagging recovery in business”.