Starting in June 2024, Singapore Airlines (SIA), a national carrier, will provide direct flights to and from London’s Gatwick airport.
Five times a week, the airline said on December 18 that the nonstop flights would be operating.
Tickets will go on sale on December 19; prices are not yet known.
The 253-seat Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft, which has 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 187 economy seats, will be used for the service.
June 21 is the date of the first flight from Singapore, which will run on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The flight should last roughly 13 hours and 30 minutes.
On June 22, the return flight from Gatwick will depart, and it will run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It is expected that this leg will take 13.5 hours.
The second busiest airport in the United Kingdom, after Heathrow Airport in London, is Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, which is located 47.5 km from Central London.
At the moment, SIA operates four daily flights to Heathrow. With the launch of the new route, there will be 33 weekly flights to the British capital, up from the present 28. Additionally, Manchester Airport is served by five weekly flights operated by SIA.
The new service, according to Mr. Dai Haoyu, acting senior vice-president for marketing planning at SIA, “opens up additional travel options to other points in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region” in addition to providing passengers with an extra flight option when traveling between Singapore and Britain.
Connecting Gatwick to Changi Airport, according to London Gatwick CEO Mr. Stewart Wingate, “is a big boost for the whole region.”
“The service also offers exciting opportunities for local and regional businesses, especially with the significant increases in trade between Britain and Singapore in recent years,” Mr. Westgate stated.
“Travelers arriving from Singapore will take advantage of London Gatwick’s exceptional connections, as our recently renovated train station offers direct access to the heart of London in under 30 minutes, in addition to services to globally recognized cities like Cambridge and the stunning south coast of Britain.”
With the Gatwick route added, the SIA network now offers 14 European destinations, including important ports of call including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, and Zurich.
With strong passenger traffic on all of its routes, SIA Group reported a 24.5% year-over-year rise in passenger traffic in October.
In October 2023, the group’s passenger network encompassed 35 countries and territories with 119 destinations.
