LONDON – Gatwick Airport announced yesterday that they now offer up to 51 flights per week to the United States as the airport gears up for the Winter season.
The destinations in question are concentrated to New York’s JFK, Boston, Orlando, and Tampa, with the following airlines offering these services:
| Destination | Airline | Frequency |
| New York (JFK) | JetBlue | 2 x daily from 31 October (1 x daily before) |
| New York (JFK) | Norse Atlantic | 1 x daily |
| New York (JFK) | British Airways | 1 x daily |
| Boston (Logan) | JetBlue | 1 x daily |
| Orlando | British Airways | 11 x weekly |
| Tampa | British Airways | 5 x weekly |
The U.S market is quite a lucrative one, with data from Visit the USA stating that more than 4.8 million visits were made by Brits to the USA in 2019, with this expected to rise to five million by 2024.
On the flip side, Visit Britain has highlighted that 4.5 million Americans visited the UK in 2019, offering a total expenditure of £4.18 billion.
Stephanie Wear, VP of Aviation Development at Gatwick Airport, said: “We are delighted to be building back our popular connections to North America post the pandemic. It’s exciting to be able to offer passengers more choices once again when traveling between Gatwick and the USA.
“We are already seeing huge demand for JetBlue’s Boston route, which launched in August, while four daily options to New York speaks for itself. Both Orlando and Tampa are fantastic options for families, especially with Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebrations ongoing, and we hope to be welcoming more flights to US destinations very soon.”
Sky Crockford, Visit USA, said: “We are thrilled to see travel between the UK and USA bouncing back post covid. The USA has always been hugely popular with holidaymakers and families from the UK. There is so much on offer to see and do for every type of vacationer.”
U.S Market Is Popular Year-Round…
The U.S market is market that is popular year-round, irrespective of the seasons.
For Wintertime, many Brits would head to the United States to do some Christmas shopping in New York, with many Americans heading to the UK for the Christmas Markets in London and elsewhere.
In the Summer time, many Brits head to the States to take advantage of the warm weather, as well as tourist attractions such as Disneyland in Orlando, etc.
So, it shows why Gatwick Airport is wanting to offer this many flights, especially if the capacity is full out of the likes of London Heathrow.
Overall…
It remains clear that Gatwick Airport is bracing itself for a busy period and wants to advertise that it is open for business in order to take some business away from Heathrow.
Looking ahead, it’s going to be interesting to see how all of the carriers listed above will perform out of the airport and whether this will encourage an upgrade in frequencies for the Summer & Winter 2023 seasons.
But for now, all we can do is sit back and wait to see what happens.
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