GENERAL

Yet another year has passed at alarming speed & it is time to take stock of what it brought us at Gatwick.

GIP has continued to make various improvements to the airport’s infrastructure & has embarked on a number of initiatives to make the “passenger experience” more enjoyable (or should that be less unpleasant!), one of the more bizarre ones being a yoga area in the south terminal!

The Airports Commission finally issued its report in the summer, recommending a third runway at LHR. The government undertook to make a decision by the end of the year on whether to follow this advice, or whether to build a second runway at Gatwick. However, this was then deferred until at least next summer. While LHR may still be the front-runner, I believe that this has put Gatwick firmly back in the frame. I wonder what I will be reporting next January (another delayed decision??).

A new feature this year will be the two easyJet hangars, which are due to be completed in April, allowing the carrier to carry out light maintenance at Gatwick in its own hangars rather than rely on the Virgin Atlantic one.

Most of our larger carriers have continued to expand. EasyJet has celebrated its 20th birthday, added even more new routes, adopted a new colour scheme & taken delivery of a further 24 A320s. Norwegian has also added new routes & continues to achieve good loads on its transatlantic services, with the first B789s due to appear at Gatwick during 2016. This carrier’s main drive at present seems to be to expand in Spain & on its services to the USA, though flights to other continents are also rumoured. A number of aircraft were transferred to the Irish register, most based at Gatwick, & one has also received a UK registration, though seems to be languishing in a hangar at Stavanger. In an interesting move, three B738s have been based in the Caribbean this winter to operate to cities in the NE USA.

British A/W will increase its long-haul offerings from Gatwick in the summer & had seemingly taken delivery of all its used A320s until we heard that a further one was to be obtained this year in place of the planned one that it had rejected. Its IAG partner, Vueling, is also using Gatwick more with extra flights sometimes taking the day’s tally to as many as twelve flights, as happened two days ago.

Iraqi A/W found itself banned from operating its own aircraft to Europe & after a spell of using various B737 classics, followed by a couple of Hermes A320s until it settled on an Air Explore B738. The year also provided what may well turn out to be the last scheduled MD80 service to Gatwick, which was operated by Meridiana.

Finally, there was little disruption here from the weather in 2015 with snow & ice & even fog a comparative rarity

AIRLINE GAINS & LOSSES

As usual, the “full to capacity” airport round the M25 managed to conjure up slots when it suited it & poach further long-haul traffic from us. Vietnam A/L went there during the year & Garuda is set to follow during 2016. Another loss will be Caribbean A/W, who will pull off the route this month as they have been making a loss - not too surprising given the competition from BA & Virgin Atlantic on routes to that part of the world. We had expected Air Baltic to move its Riga service to LCY, but it is still here. Mahan Air failed to show & La Compagnie chose to operate its business class only service out of Luton rather than Gatwick.

On the plus side, Pegasus & Travel Service now operate scheduled services to us & Iberia Express also became a regular operator during the year. Med-View started a four weekly service from Lagos in November & this seems to be remarkably reliable at present, despite the carrier having just the one wide-bodied aircraft.

The thrice-daily Emirates service from Dubai became an all A380 operation today. This may be the end of their B777s at Gatwick, though it is rumoured that they could start a fourth or even a fifth Gatwick service during this year. We recently heard that Air Tanzania intends to start services to Gatwick in the summer, while Cathay Pacific will make a welcome return in September with a new type for us, the A350. For the second year running Qatar A/W has applied for slots for a B787 service from Doha though, as happened in 2015, may well cancel the request. The Canadian routes are due for a major boost this year with both Rouge & WestJet going head to head with Air Transat for this lucrative market. It was interesting to see Air Transat use B738s to Gatwick out of Halifax, NS in 2015 & WestJet will also reportedly be using B738s on some flights. Air Salone started up from Freetown, though currently uses an Icelandair B752 with an Icelandair callsign. Discussions with other airlines concerning further long-haul routes to Gatwick are ongoing.

Once again, we saw Thomas Cook using Lithuanian A320s during the summer, while Small Planet based a pair of A320s here. Germania has almost become a based airline, with an A319, A321 & B737 appearing regularly, flying a mixture of scheduled & charter flights. Turkey proved a very popular destination in 2015, with plenty of Pegasus & Sun Express flights as well as a newcomer for us, Corendon Air. However, for once, Onur Air did not feature this summer.

Equipment changes during 2015 saw the end of BA’s B734 fleet at the start of October, while the last Thomas Cook B752 was withdrawn from service yesterday &, a sign of the times, the first two Virgin Atlantic B744s left the fleet along with further A340s. Norwegian also retired its last B733s.

AIRLINES AT GATWICK AT YEAR END

Scheduled carriers as at 31/12/15 were:

Aegean, Aer Lingus, Air Arabia Maroc, Air Baltic, Air Europa, Air Explore (for IAW), Air Malta, Air Salone, Air Transat, Aurigny
Belavia, British A/W
Caribbean A/L
easyJet, easyJet Switzerland, Emirates
Flybe
Garuda, Germania
Iberia Express, Icelandair, Iraqi A/W
Med-View, Meridiana, Monarch
Norwegian Air Shuttle, Norwegian Long Haul
Pegasus
RAM, Ryanair
Swiss International (seasonal)
TAP, Thomas Cook, Thomson A/W, THY, Travel Service, Tunisair
Ukraine International
Virgin Atlantic, Vueling
Wow Air

Other carriers seen at Gatwick in 2015 included:

Adria, Air Berlin, Air Corsica, Air Horizonte, Air Lituanica, Air Moldova, Air Nostrum, Alba Star, Alitalia CityLiner, All Nippon, Atlantic A/W, Austrian A/L
BA Cityflyer, BH Air, BinAir, Blue Air, bmi Regional, Bulgaria Air
Carpatair, Corendon Air, Corsair, Croatia A/L, CSA
Danish Air Transport, Darwin A/L, Denim
Eastern A/W, Emirates Sky Cargo, Enter Air, Etihad Regional, Euro Atlantic A/W, Europe Airpost
FlyVista, FreeBird
Gambia Bird, Go2Sky
Hermes A/L, HiFly, Holiday Jet, HOP!
Iberia
Jetairfly, Jet2, JOTA Aviation
Kenya A/W
Loganair, Lufthansa, Luftline Georgia, Luxair
Montenegro A/L
Neos, Niki
Omni Air International
Privilege Style
SAS, SATA, Singapore A/L, Small Planet A/L, Small Planet A/L Polska, SmartLynx, Smartwings, Sun-Air, Sun Express
Titan A/W, Trade Air, Transavia, Travel Service Poland, Travel Service Slovakia, TUIfly Nordic, TUI Netherlands, Tunisair
United A/L
Vietnam A/L, VLM, VVB Aviation Malta
Wamos Air, White, Wind Rose
The number of “other carriers” dropped from 118 in 2013 & 94 in 2014 to just 79 last year. Some of the above operated seasonal services & will return in the summer, many were just one-off or occasional charters, while others were only here on diversion.

NEW AIRLINERS

Twelve airlines reached double figures with first visits in 2015 compared to just six the previous year & nine in 2013

35 Norwegian
31 easyJet (including 7 Swiss aircraft)
23 Emirates, Ryanair & THY
19 Pegasus & Vueling
18 Iberia Express
17 Travel Service
16 Aegean
11 British A/W & Thomas Cook

Airliner first visits by manufacturer were:

Airbus

A300. None of this fast vanishing type during 2015
A310. Just one SATA example
A318. None this year
A319. Four from easyJet Switzerland, three CSA & Vueling plus one each from Adria, Austrian A/L, Brussels A/L Germania, Iberia, Holiday Jet, Niki & THY. No A319CJs during the year
A320. Twenty seven easyJet (including 3 Swiss), eighteen Iberia Express, fifteen Aegean, ten British A/W & Vueling, nine Pegasus, four Niki & Small Planet, three FreeBird, two Avion Express, Danish Air Transport, Hermes A/L, Titan & Wow Air, one each from Air Arabia Maroc, Austrian A/L, BH Air, MasterJet, Monarch, SATA, SmartLynx, Travel Service Slovakia, Virgin Atlantic, White & Wind Rose
A321. Twelve from THY, eight Thomas Cook, five Germania & Vueling, two Monarch & Wow Air plus single examples from Aegean, Air Berlin, British A/W, Swiss International & Thomas Cook Scandinavia
A330. Four from THY, two Thomas Cook & one HiFly
A340. Just a single Lufthansa example
A380. A further fifteen Emirates plus one Singapore A/L machine

Antonov

Nothing at all from this manufacturer, compared to two in 2014

ATR

BAe

Only the JOTA 146 & an Eastern A/W Jetstream

Boeing

B712. Conspicuous by their absence

B727. None again

B737 classic. A very noticeable drop from 16 down to just 7, made up of single B733s from Belavia, Europe Airpost & VistaJet Malta along with lone B734s from Air Horizont, Blue Line, Luftline Georgia & VVB Aviation Malta

B737NG. Ryanair’s sole B737 along with a single B739 from Travel Service & the latest five THY ones. The rest were all B738s – twenty eight Norwegian, twenty two Ryanair, fifteen Travel Service (including one Polish & one Slovak), ten Pegasus, eight Corendon Air & Sun Express, four Air Transat, Iraqi A/W, Jet2 & Transavia, three Jetairfly & Luxair, two Enter Air & TUI Netherlands & single examples from Air Explore, Meridiana & SAS

B747. The Jumbo was welcomed back in 2015 as, for the first time in 42 years, no new ones appeared in 2014. We had a first visit from a United A/L B744 on a NFL charter (which went for scrap a couple of weeks later!) & also saw our first B748, which was from the Qatar Amiri Flight

B757. Only three, all from Icelandairbr>

B767. A mere four B763s – two from Euro Atlantic, the sole Med-View machine & a United A/L aircraft on diversion from LHR

B777. Eleven newcomers during the year, starting on New Year’s Day with a Cayman Islands registered VIP aircraft. Emirates provided a further eight, with single examples appearing on diversion from Kenya A/W & THY

B787. Eight Norwegian, three more Thomson A/W, two Virgin Atlantic aircraft, one from British A/W & what was, for some, the highlight of the year, All Nippon’s Star Wars scheme B789.

Bombardier

This manufacturer gave us the first four former United Express DH8Ds to enter service with FlyBe, along with a VIP CRJ2 & four CRJ8s.

Dornier

Making a welcome return with a pair of MHS Aviation Do328s, both on diversion from LCY.

DOUGLAS/MCDD

Just a single Danish Air Transport MD80 from this manufacturer.

Embraer

Five new Legacies for us, along with single E145s from Enhance Aero & Denim, plus three HOP! E170s &, on diversion from LCY, a pair of Alitalia Cityliner E190s

Fokker

Thin on the ground these days, all that were new for Gatwick were a couple of VLM Fk50s & a Carpatair Fk100

Lockheed

Only a single Kuwait A/F KC-130J

Saab

An Etihad Regional S2000 & five Loganair SF340Bs in FlyBe scheme operating football charters

SWEARINGEN

A single BinAir Metro

GENERAL AVIATION

There were no new GA types for us in 2015, though we did play host to the airport’s first Guernsey registered aircraft. There was another drop in the number of new biz jets, though not a huge one while, in percentage terms, a larger one among the helicopters. It was good to see a Gulfstream 3 visit, especially as we had no new ones in 2014, though the HA4000 was again conspicuous by its absence.

FIRST VISITS

A big improvement over 2014 with a greater than 10% increase from 511 to 565 though, as can be seen from the figures below, we still have a long way to go compared to a number of recent years.

2000 – 624 (364 liners, 199 biz, 27 twins, 31 helos, 3 others)
2001 – 532 (327 liners, 155 biz, 21 twins, 24 helos, 5 others)
2002 – 637 (414 liners, 168 biz, 22 twins, 26 helos, 7 others)
2003 – 598 (408 liners, 139 biz, 20 twins, 23 helos, 8 others)
2004 – 663 (474 liners, 144 biz, 18 twins, 18 helos, 9 others)
2005 – 690 (466 liners, 174 biz, 20 twins, 22 helos, 8 others)
2006 – 769 (516 liners, 209 biz, 21 twins, 19 helos, 4 others)
2007 – 702 (452 liners, 209 biz, 14 twins, 21 helos, 6 others)
2008 – 630 (379 liners, 219 biz, 16 twins, 13 helos, 3 others)
2009 – 606 (382 liners, 186 biz, 16 twins, 12 helos, 10 others)
2010 – 555 (350 liners, 172 biz, 21 twins, 5 helos, 7 others)
2011 – 613 (427 liners, 170 biz, 9 twins, 4 helos, 3 others)
2012 – 689 (496 liners, 168 biz, 10 twins, 10 helos, 5 others)
2013 – 608 (411 liners, 168 biz, 12 twins, 15 helos, 2 others)
2014 – 511 (351 liners, 133 biz, 7 twins, 16 helos, 4 others)
2015 – 565 (413 liners, 127 biz, 7 twins, 11 helos, 7 others)

Just 19 diversions among the year’s newcomers, 4 each from LCY, Luton & LHR, 3 from Biggin, 2 from Farnborough, one from Bristol & a further aircraft overflying to the USA. This compares to 23 in 2014 & 30 in 2013.

Airliner breakdown
180 A320 (18 A319, 123 A320, 39 A321)
134 B737 (3 B733, 4 B734, 1 B737, 120 B738, 6 B739)
16 A380
14 B787
11 B777
7 A330
5 E135, SF340
4 B767, CRJ8, DHC8
3 B757, E170
2 AT72, B747, Do328, E145, E190, Fk50
1 A310, A340, AT42, BAe146, C130, CRJ2, Fk100, JS41, MD80, Metro, S2000
Types that appeared in 2014, but failed to feature in 2015 were the A300, An26, An74, B717, C-17, CRJ9 & Fk70

Biz Jet breakdown
16 CL600
15 BD700
14 Gulf 5
12 BD100
10 Ce525
7 Ce560
6 DA900, Gulf 4, Phenom
5 Ce680
4 Ce550, DA7X
3 Ce510, G280, Lear
2 DA50, DA2000, HS125
1 Be400, Ce750, G150, G200, Galaxy, Gulf 3, Gulf 650
No Astras or Eclipses this year. The Challenger regained first place, which it had previously held in 2012 & 2013

Biz prop/twin breakdown
4 PC-12
3 Avanti, Be200, TBM700
1 Ce406
Having held top spot for at least the last seven years, the King Air was ousted this time by the PC-12

Helicopter breakdown (overflights are NOT recorded/included by me)
7 A109
2 AS355
1 AS365, AW139
Having won it from the Squirrel family in 2014, the A109 retained first place

By country prefix (including military)
93 G
62 TC
51 EI
39 EC
32 N
30 D
27 9H
23 A6
21 OK
18 SX
16 HB
15 CS, OE
13 LN
11 F, LX
8 PH
7 LY, OO, TF
6 OY
5 C, M, OM, SP
4 YI
3 SE
2 I, VQ-B, YR, 4K
1 A7, B, CN, EW, JA, LZ, S5, UR, VP-C, XA, YL, 2, 3A, 4L, 5N, 5Y, 9K, 9V
48 countries compared to 51 in 2014 & 52 in 2013. A new country prefix for us was 2- (Guernsey)
In the top ten, Malta, the Czech Republic & Greece replaced Switzerland, Norway & Austria. As always, the UK remained top

By manufacturer (2014 figures in brackets):
205 Airbus (189)
168 Boeing (125)
55 Bombardier (38)
31 Cessna (40)
27 Gulfstream (27)
18 Embraer (21)
14 Dassault (14)
6 Hawker/Beechcraft (16)
Plus 41 from assorted other manufacturers (41)

Total first visits in 2015 by month
Jan 35 (20 liners, 13 biz, 2 others)
Feb 50 (33 liners, 15 biz, 2 others)
Mar 49 (34 liners, 12 biz, 3 others)
Apr 56 (45 liners, 9 biz, 2 others)
May 52 (46 liners, 6 biz, 0 others)
Jun 56 (43 liners, 12 biz, 1 others)
Jly 54 (45 liners, 8 biz, 1 others)
Aug 44 (36 liners, 8 biz, 0 others)
Sep 37 (28 liners, 7 biz, 2 others)
Oct 40 (24 liners, 12 biz, 4 others)
Nov 43 (27 liners, 13 biz, 4 others)
Dec 49 (32 liners, 13 biz, 4 others)

Military & government newcomers (the same number as in 2014)
ANX-1207 Gulfstream 550 Mexican Navy
A7-HBJ B748 Qatar Amiri Flight
KAF327 KC-130J Kuwait A/F 41Sqdn
T-785 DA900EX Swiss A/F
ZJ785 AS365N AAC 8Flt
103 TBM700 French A/F “XI”
110 TBM700 French A/F “XP”

Golden Raspberries

In first place is the UK Government for failing to address the issue of runway capacity in the southeast & yet again deferring a decision.
Second place goes to the major US carriers for bleating on about competition from the Gulf carriers instead of working to improve their own inferior offering.
Third place goes to whoever decided to rename Church Fenton airfield as Leeds East! I flatly refuse to refer to Kemble as Cotswold Airport or to Kidlington as Oxford Airport. I wish someone would start a campaign to bring back the old names – there was nothing wrong with the likes of Abbotsinch, Castle Donington, Elmdon, Finningley, Horsham St Faith, Hurn, Rhoose, St Mawgan, Speke, Staverton, Turnhouse, etc, etc. At least the fad for prefixing every airfield within a 200-mile radius of the capital with the word “London” seems to have died out at last

AND FINALLY

Thanks & congratulations to PCSO Richard Griffith & the airport security team for arranging for members of the Gatwick Aviation Enthusiast Scheme to enter a restricted area to photograph the ANA/Star Wars B789. A very welcome initiative indeed.

That’s all for 2015, folks. Not the greatest of years, but a noticeable improvement on 2014.

John (& Mad Max)