Gatwick losing last direct New York flights

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After more than 25 years of direct service from Gatwick to New York, the airport will soon see the last of the flights come to an end.

British Airways recently announced that it will be discontinuing its service from Gatwick to New York in October, using its slot on flights to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and the Maldives instead.

The move by BA signals the end of era, during which numerous airlines attempted to make a success of servicing the route.

Laker Airways flew from Gatwick in the late 1970s, offering its low-cost Skytrain service to New York, and later, in the 1980s, People Express also tried unsuccessfully to offer no-frills service to New York from the airport.

Last year saw the failure of Zoom, another budget carrier.

Even Virgin Atlantic, successfully operating flights to New York and Newark for many years, has ended its service from Gatwick.

The London-New York route is one of the aviation industry’s most profitable, but since the “Open Skies” deal between the EU and the US have opened up the market, a number of carriers have moved their UK hub to Heathrow.

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