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All direct flights from London Gatwick
Flight Summary
London Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world and is the main hub for holiday flights from the UK.
The top 20 most popular routes list from Gatwick is dominated by leisure destinations such as Malaga, Orlando and Faro (Algarve).
The biggest airlines at Gatwick are easyJet, Thomson Airways, Thomas Cook Airlines and Monarch. British Airways operates a sizeable number of its European and long-haul holiday flights from Gatwick. Regional budget airline Flybe uses Gatwick as its only London hub.
London's second busiest airport (31 million passengers in 2010) also hosts a number of airlines from emerging nations who have not been able to secure slots at Heathrow.
Destination Summary
This kingdom-within-a-kingdom had, long before the race for the 2012 Olympics, been involved in a three horse race with Paris and New York for the title of The Greatest City on Earth.
Of course, the usual tourist trails continue unabated. The familiar red buses will, on any given day, be performing their regular snap-happy circuit of Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and the Towers of London.
There is, however, another reason why many people relate everything else within the UK in terms of its proximity and similarity to the nation's capital. London is a location grand enough to occupy the entirety of one's time in Britain, and a destination which will forever reward individual wandering on quiet afternoons.
Turn left on shoppers' nirvana Oxford Street, and you'll find yourself in the buzzing multi-media node that is Soho. Take a calming stroll along the South Bank to Tate Modern, the city's premier venue for contemporary arts. Or head north, for the views afforded by the increasingly chic Primrose Hill or lavender-tinged picnickers' favourite Hampstead Heath.
London rotates its "hippest neighbourhood" award on a weekly basis, and some suggest the city's axis of cool has begun to shift towards the suburban South, away from the East End's gentrified streets. But even that reductive take on London topography leaves out its West (expensive Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea) and the North (yoof-ful Camden, urbane Islington).
In truth, London's novelty never wears off: in whichever direction one looks, there's always something new to see.
Quick Facts
- Airport Code: LGW
- Alternative Name: Gatwick
- Miles From City Centre: 28
James Says
Gatwick airport offers excellent onward connections, courtesy of both the Gatwick Express, and other local and regional train services.
Believe it or not, for all the criticism levelled at the British public transport, Gatwick was one of the first major airports in the world to have an on-site station.
Mark Says
Gatwick offers a huge network of long-haul flights, which can roughly be split into holiday flights, and flights operated by airlines who are unable to get decent slots at Heathrow.
This includes some major US carriers who are prevented from operating flights from Heathrow due to restrictions imposed by the Bermuda Treaty. This treaty also restricts the number of US cities which can be served by flights from Heathrow, even if the airline has slots there.
The rapidly expanding Middle Eastern airlines Emirates (Dubai) and Etihad (Abu Dhabi) offer passengers a choice of flights to their respective hubs from both Heathrow and Gatwick.
Your Comments (4)
Miranda Morling
James Avery
You could drive, or even take the train to Southampton and fly from there with Flybe. They had previously operated flights from Gatwick to Leeds Bradford too, but the route wasn't viable. Gatwick is a mixed-bag when it comes to routes - in some respects, it is serving the whole of Kent, Sussex and much of Surrey, but it is also still a London airport. When the train to Leeds from King's Cross takes only two hours, there just wasn't enough demand for people to spend 30 minutes on the Gatwick Express to then turn around and fly back over London to Leeds.
Southampton on the other hand is a much smaller airport, primarily serving the Solent region. Going that way will probably give you the fastest door to door journey, but your time getting to the airport is wasted unless you take the train there.
All in all, the tube from Victoria to King's Cross isn't really that bad - or you can take Thameslink to avoid it. I think the train still wins on this route.
Miranda Morling
Whenever I've searched for trains from Brighton to Leeds, the Thameslink option has never come up - is that because fares are different when you go that way?
James Avery
Southampton is a great little airport, you will find it far easier to use than sprawling Gatwick. Why not give that a try, and then use Thameslink for your next trip?