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Gatwick South to reopen
If ever there was a sign that travel is coming back, this is it. Having been closed since early in the pandemic, Gatwick South is to reopen.
Gatwick Airport has today announced it will reopen its South Terminal in March – after nearly two years being dormant – to help meet the expected strong demand this summer as confidence in international travel returns.
The news comes on the day that testing requirements for those arriving into the UK have been eased significantly, with fully vaccinated passengers (two doses) and those under the age of 18 no longer needing to take pre-departure and post-arrival tests.
Flights have been operating solely from the airport’s North Terminal since 15 June 2020 to save on costs, but flights will return to the South Terminal from Sunday 27 March, the traditional start of airline summer schedules.
British Airways has already announced it will restart its short-haul services from Gatwick from 29 March, with 35 new European routes added. Much as I am not a fan of Gatwick itself, I do really enjoy the BA first and business lounges there more than those at Heathrow. Having been refurbished a few years ago, they feel much more upmarket and the staff in the first lounge are always super helpful as it’s a much smaller space so easier to give better attention than Heathrow.
Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, Gatwick Airport said: “After an incredibly challenging two years for the airport, our partners, local communities and the entire aviation industry, we are delighted to be reopening our South Terminal next month.
“Following some major announcements from our airlines about significantly increased flying schedules, and from Government on removing travel restrictions and airport slot regulations, we can now look forward to once again operating a busy Gatwick this summer and beyond.
“It may however take time for consumer confidence to fully recover, so I urge Government to make 2022 the year when all travel restrictions are removed, including the unpopular passenger locator form and other remaining barriers to free travel.”
Airlines who will be operating from the South Terminal include: British Airways, Vueling, Wizz, Ryanair, Norwegian, Turkish Airlines, TAP, Eastern Airways, Aurigny, Aer Lingus, Air Baltic, Airmaltia, Air Europa and Enter Air, while easyJet will operate across both South and North Terminals.
Spain eases entry restrictions
There have been repeated calls recently from the Canary Islands for Spain to get rid of its restrictions on children visiting Spain. Currently, only children under 12 can enter without being fully vaccinated, making many families cancel bookings for countries more favourable to children.
Now Spain has announced it is to allow all unvaccinated British children to enter from 14 February, the start of half term. Children aged 12 to 17 who aren’t fully vaccinated will be able to travel with a negative PCR test taken up to 72 hours before arrival.
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6 comments
Great news about Gatwick. Now we just need LHR T4 open again to believe things are really heading for normal.
That said, as Air France and KLM have moved to T3, I wonder what is to happen. Will Sky Team all follow on? It’s a strange situation because I can’t see Qantas and Cathay wanting to move to T4 to join Qatar and Malaysia even if BA and Finnair do.
However, they are already cancelling flights, or moving them back to Heathrow, early in April so they may already realise the re-opening may be a bit behind schedule.
As for T4, it would be good if they at least could open up the travel links to T2/3 which would make the T4 hotels more useful.
It’s interesting to see at Gatwick that easyJet will be split between both terminals. I thought that the long and laborious switch of BA from North to South, with a period of camping in very poor quality lounges, was primarily influenced by the wish of easyJet, Gatwick’s largest customer, to get all its flights under one roof.
I agree with Michelle’s view that BA’s lounges at LGW are better than at LHR, except the Concorde Room. I do hope that QR will get back to T4; my next QR flight is at 1405, but the former dining arrangements in T4 for a late flight were so far ahead of anything on offer in T5.
Yes definitely agree about QR. I used to really enjoy the lounge in T4! They will need to something as before long the BA lounges will run out of room!
So will the BA lounge in Gatwick South reopen? We are flying BA in June so are hoping to use it
I would expect at least the Club lounge to open. So far there has been nothing to suggest it won’t reopen when they move back.
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