It seems Norwegian Air Shuttle is on the attack at London Gatwick, as the Global Distribution Systems are going mad with new flights loaded from London Gatwick to the USA.
From the data at Airline Routes, the following long haul services could be launched
- London Gatwick to Los Angeles – twice a week from 2nd July 2014 (Wednesday and Sunday)
- London Gatwick to New York JFK – three times a week from 3rd July 2014 (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday)
- London Gatwick to Ft. Lauderdale – twice a week from 4th July 2014 (Monday and Friday)
This will be operated by a Boeing 787-8 (and with the proposed schedule, a maximum of two aircraft to be committed, with using 1 aircraft at a push).
The aircraft is configured as:
- 32 Premium Economy Seats in 2-3-2 formation
- 259 Economy seats in 3-3-3 formation
Whilst this is no major competition to the incumbents at Heathrow with the addition of 2037 seats a week to the USA, it does fire a shot at the charter carriers who will react to this.
But even then, this could be a much lower cost service could force the majors to react and start dropping their prices.
Lead in prices have been confirmed… and prepared to be shocked:
- London Gatwick to Los Angeles: £199 single
- London Gatwick to New York JFK: £149 single
- London Gatwick to Ft. Lauderdale: £179 single
Stand by for a major fare war….
Want to keep up with me at GhettoIFE? Join me either by signing up for my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter @GhettoIFE for when there are posts to the blog!