LONDON – On April 14, it has been announced that the United Kingdom’s flag carrier airline, British Airways, will be restarting its London Gatwick to Jersey route.
The Route
British Airways are due to be restarting the Gatwick to Jersey service from June 19. The route will again be served on a daily basis.
The departing flight out of London Gatwick (LGW), BA1362, will leave at 12:50 pm and arrive in Jersey (JER) at 13:55 pm after a flight time of 1 hour and 5 minutes.
The return flight, BA1361, leaves Jersey at 07:30 am and arrives back in Gatwick at 08:35 am, again after another flight time of 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Robin MacRae, Director of Jersey Airport has said, “The announcement from British Airways is good news for residents and visitors as it offers another travel option between the Island and London’s second-largest airport, London Gatwick.”
“The British Airways link will complement existing island connectivity and provide additional capacity to further support demand during the peak summer period.”
The news comes not long after British Airways had announced that its London Heathrow to Jersey service will be running for at least the next five years.
Since beginning the Heathrow to Jersey route back in July 2020, British Airways has maintained a steady link with the airport throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The extension of the route for the next five years is expected to deliver a GDP growth of £123 million per year by 2025 as well as support 1200 jobs on the Island of Jersey.
On the Heathrow extension, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ports of Jersey, Matt Thomas says, “The pandemic has shone a light on the critical importance of air connectivity for Islanders and our economy.”
“Throughout the pandemic, we worked incredibly closely with our airline partners to secure the resilience of our air links. Increasingly over the last twelve months, however, our efforts have shifted to the key role that connectivity will play in the recovery of our economy.”
Overall…
The news of the Gatwick route restarting as well as the news of the Heathrow flights continuing for at least the next five years to Jersey will be very welcome news for those who have ties to the Island, be it from a business perspective or personal.
Since Flybe’s collapse back in March 2020 when the airline was pushed into administration at the beginning of the pandemic, the airport at Jersey struggled with a decreased lack of important air links, meaning that travelers needed to heavily rely upon it.
Not only did the collapse of Flybe not help the Island, but also the fact that both British Airways and easyJet were beginning to retire their Airbus A319 aircraft, meaning that they had to switch some flights to an Airbus A320 which meant that the airline needed to also secure more seat bookings in order for the route to remain profitable.
Thankfully with the support of the Ports of Jersey and the airport itself, British Airways and easyJet have been able to keep their important routes open and now we are coming to the end of the pandemic, we should start to see the passenger numbers on those routes increase over time.
