• 

  London Heathrow Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LHR-EGLL

  Country:

  United Kingdom

  CEO:

  John Holland-Kaye

  Passenger Count :

  19,392,178 (2021)

  Runways :

  09L/27R - 3,902m (12,802ft) | 09R/27L - 3,660m (12,008ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 2 | Terminal 3 | Terminal 4 | Terminal 5

Next summer, London to New York will have the most flights in 15 years. It's because of Delta, which will resume New York JFK to London Gatwick after a 13-year absence. Its reappearance means that the airport pair will have four airlines for the first time. The market is hotting up. And we don't know for certain if Norse Atlantic – which was granted its UK air operator's certificate on September 27th – will grow flights to JFK.

Hang on: 35 daily flights?

London to New York will reach 35 daily on May 1st, according to the latest Cirium data. Analyzing schedules shows that, between May and August, 35 daily will exist on more than eight in ten days. Strictly speaking, Newark won't be considered a New York airport then, but it will, of course, play an important role.

While 35 is a huge amount, it's not quite a record. On just three dozen occasions in the past two decades, there have been 36 and 37 daily flights, most recently on April 27th, 2008. Still, it will be one of the highest numbers ever.

It raises the inevitable question of overcapacity and the potential impact on fares and yields. However, city pair seat capacity is lower than before due to smaller and often more premium aircraft and the removal of British Airways' B747-400s.

While London Gatwick-New York flights exceed the pre-pandemic, seat capacity is down by a quarter due to JetBlue's low-capacity A321s; previously, the market was typically all widebody.

Stay aware: Sign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.

May 1st

On Monday, May 1st, the following is bookable. London Heathrow has 30 flights, Gatwick five – the latter a record. Norse Atlantic helps; I was on its first Gatwick-JFK.

In the US, JFK has 25 London services and Newark ten. Given Air France is resuming Paris CDG-Newark and there's a good likelihood of KLM restarting Amsterdam-Newark, might Virgin Atlantic – which is to become a SkyTeam member – return to the New Jersey airport?

Discover more aviation news.

Gatwick-JFK: record airlines and flights

It's hard to imagine that the route had no flights between 2010 and 2013. And when it has had service, it has normally been by two and no more than three airlines. Currently, it has a trio (BA, JetBlue, Norse), and, before that, it last had three in 2007 (BA, Delta, and Zoom).

Gatwick-JFK will have four airlines next summer, a record number. And when combined with five flights – also the highest yet – there's more choice than ever. But is it sustainable? If not, who will blink first?

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.