BA Extends Gatwick Short Haul Cancellation To 31 October 2021

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

British Airways will not operate any short haul flights at London Gatwick Airport until Sunday 31 October 2021.

British Airways has extended the transfer of all London Gatwick short haul flights to London Heathrow Airport up to Saturday 30 October 2021.

BA transferred all Gatwick short haul routes to London Heathrow in April 2020. This was initially a temporary move. It has been extended many times. The last plan was for short haul flights to resume in July.

The latest extension in no doubt influenced by the UK government’s plans to reopen international travel, which means a near normal summer travel season without restrictions is looking less likely. It does not bode well for BA’s long term presence at Gatwick.

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Tobi Hughes

13 Responses

  1. We are booked for October and prefer LHR to LGW anyway. I expect an email cancelling our flights to arrive soon.

    1. The email just arrived and they’ve transferred the flights to LHR ??

  2. Not at all surprised by BA doing this (they did the same last year!) We fly out in September (should have been Gatwick) for a month and return in October and as the post states it becomes more likely that BA will cease flights from Gatwick in the future. Looking forward to bumping into you in October Maurice. I’ll be looking out for that black cat! ??

  4. Good news for me too! We had an email about our July and August flights, this morning. There is an expectation that BA will relaunch its short haul Gatwick flights in summer 2022, including FNC. If the numbers of people flying return to anything like pre-Covid days, BA will not have enough room at Heathrow for all of its services.

    That said, the summer before last BA were operating 8 flights a week to Funchal, with a double daily on Sundays (and some Saturdays). Selfishly (for the same reason as Maurice) I do hope that they can retain Heathrow as a departure point for some Madeira flights

  5. We are happy bunnies if they leave Manchester flights in Manchester??

    1. Manchester flights will now be from Glasgow, Birmingham flights from Newcastle, Newcastle flights from Bristol, Cardiff flights from Dublin ?????

  6. We heard this morning that our October flights had been transferred to Heathrow..

  7. Maurice, you’re a card lol

    Problem No1) My last 2 flights to Funchal with BA were booked for Gatwick and changed to Heathrow nearer departure date, so please be very wary when booking Airport Hotels, Airport Parking and Taxis.

    Problem No 2) If you are planning to fly back to the UK anytime soon, the Portuguese Government waived the need for a visa as those people marooned in Madeira obviously couldn’t fly home BUT if you fly back via Zurich, this waiver goes out the window, last Sat 3rd April, about 12 of us had our passports taken off us at Zurich Airport and we were marched off (when I say marched, that included wheelchairs and walking sticks) by a senior Polizia, he thought we had deliberately overstayed our time in Funchal, one spokesperson (Michelle) told them we weren’t a group of 12 and last Sat was our first opportunity to leave Madeira, he couldn’t believe that insurers wouldn’t pay out for our extended stay, felt sorry for us and stamped our passports and let us go.

    Problem No 3) Two of our fellow passengers (he 81 she 78) were not allowed to fly to London from Zurich as the wifi in the airport boarding area is rubbish and they couldn’t find or access their documents on their phones, the knock on effect was they had to cancel their overnight stay at Heathrow, they had to cancel their Sun flight to Newcastle, they had to stay in a transit hotel overnight in Zurich airport, they had to rebook a flight to London on Sunday, they had to rebook a night in hotel in Heathrow and they had to rebook a flight to Newcastle on Mon, arriving home Mon night after leaving their hotel 7.45 am Sat morning.

    Please Please Please print off all documentation required to get you through the airports, we had to show ours 3 times, FUN/ZUR/LON

    Hi Tobi, maybe you can highlight some of what I have said on a separate Blog just in case there are still people in Madeira without visas or printed paperwork.

    Apart from that Have a nice weekend. (I’m still in isolation).

    1. An informative letter from John. I agree with him 100% on paperwork, I consider myself pretty well up to date getting around a computer but there is no way, I’m chancing my arm by relying on a mobile phone and an unknown wifi. I,ve seen it in Post Offices, Banks, Shops, people trying to do without a very handy little piece of plastic and what do you save ? When you get down the stairs or more likely are stuck on the stairs at the entrance to Immigration at Bristol because travelers are having problems with their phones, heads down, noses pressed to the screen, “Well it’s always worked in the past. ” “I can’t understand it” “It must be the WIFi,” Print it off, what does it cost.

    2. Wow thanks for that, I will put this up. I have a friend who left Madeira today going to UK via lisbon via Amsterdam, but I think he will be OK, as he also has Madeiran residency.

    3. I agree with the idea of printing everything off but where? I know of only one Internet cafe in Funchal which is opposite Jaime Moniz school. I dare say if you are in a hotel there may be facilities but when you are staying in an apartment it may be hard to get stuff printed.

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