Next summer, British Airways will have 37 (and possibly 38) short-haul routes from London Gatwick. Startup BA EuroFlyer will eventually operate the vast majority of routes once the new unit has been granted its air operator's certificate (AOC). However, there will be far fewer flights than previously, and every route except one (Manchester) will have direct competition.

What's happening? A quick summary

BA ceased short-haul flying from Gatwick in April 2020, focusing instead on Heathrow. It had discussed a potential new unit at Gatwick for years, and BA EuroFlyer was eventually revealed. With a virtually identical product, it's likely that the only way to distinguish the airline will be "Operated by BA EuroFlyer" stickers on the aircraft. BA itself will initially operate before the new unit takes over, with up to 18 A320s by the end of May.

BA EuroFlyer is being created as a more cost-effective platform to better confront the significant competitive pressure faced at the airport. After all, Gatwick is easyJet's largest and most profitable airport, and now Wizz Air will expand significantly with four extra aircraft.

BA has regularly underperformed financially at Gatwick. It seems that, in addition to an adapted network and lower capacity, further reductions in labor costs and conditions and possibly higher crew productivity will be its primary competitive weapons.

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BA's 37 (or 38) short-haul routes next summer

BA currently has one operational short-haul route to Gatwick: Glasgow. It'll be joined by Manchester from March 27th, the start of the aviation summer season. However, neither domestic route will be operated by BA EuroFlyer. They're both operated on a 'W' pattern using Heathrow aircraft, routing Heathrow-Manchester/Glasgow-Gatwick and back.

BA anticipates 2.6 million short-haul Gatwick seats next summer, OAG data indicates, 61% of what it had in summer 2019 and its lowest volume for a very long time. While partly because of a smaller network, it'll also have fewer flights. If the routes operated in August 2019 are compared to those in August 2022, they'll have just 67% of the frequency. However, six routes will have more flights than previously.

At 80% of capacity if new routes are added

If BA's new short-haul routes from Gatwick – Athens, Antalya, Berlin, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Manchester, Milan Malpensa, Santorini – are added, there will be 279 departures, 80% of what it had before. In all, BA will compete head-to-head with easyJet on 36 routes and with easyJet and Wizz Air on nine, including Athens and Malpensa.

It seems that BA has decided that it's not about being bigger per se. It's about (hopefully) performing better by focusing on the strongest opportunities. It'll be interesting to see if and how this changes as COVID reduces in influence and demand increasingly returns to normal.

Will BA EuroFlyer have a sufficiently stronger platform – helped by fewer seats and flights to fill – to meaningfully improve short-haul performance at Gatwick? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.