Summary
- Air India has now started its route to Bangalore and is expanding the India connection from London Gatwick by five weekly flights.
- LGW aims to double connectivity to India in five years and is showing strong interim results due to its increasing focus on North America and Asia.
- London Gatwick is strengthening its Asia network with new connections to India, China and East Asia.
Air India has announced the launch of a brand new service between London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and Bangalore (BLR) as part of the continued expansion of the long-haul network between the UK and India. London Gatwick in particular is set to benefit from its growing list of Indian destinations, especially given “strong” Interim results for 2024 published earlier this week for the period up to June 2024.
In its press release, the airport said that the focus on North America, the Middle East and Asia has enabled it to “We are targeting a wider range of passengers and will continue to expand the airport’s vision of being the airport for all.” It referred to the new 
Singapore Airlines Flights that launched in June, as well as other new connections to China and India. It is worth mentioning that Norse Atlantic Airways also recently announced that it will launch a flight to Las Vegas in September.
Photo: Dmitry Dven | Shutterstock
Air India announces BLR-LGW
Bangalore is the fifth destination in India served from London Gatwick after Goa, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Amritsar. The airline now offers five weekly flights with its Boeing 787 fleet. The new route will help LGW achieve its ambitious target: doubling its connection to India within five years.
Related
Air India to launch Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner service between Bengaluru and London Gatwick in August
Air India will join British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to connect Bengaluru with London.
Overall, weekly frequencies between LGW and India have now increased to 19 per week. Stephanie Wear, Vice President of Aviation Development at London Gatwick, said:
“This new service to Bengaluru is great news for passengers and businesses across London and the South East. The city’s vibrant technology sector and cultural significance make it a fantastic addition to our network. It will be a popular service, offering fantastic opportunities for tourism and trade.”
According to data from FlightRadar24, the first flight between BLR and LGW was operated on August 18 with a Boeing 787-8 with the registration VT-ANJ. The aircraft is 11 years old and landed in England about an hour later than planned at 19:58 local time.
The service will operate under flight number AI177. Between August 2021 and March 2022, Air India operated a route between BLR and London Heathrow Airport (LHR) under the same flight number.
In addition to LGW, Air India also offers 31 weekly flights to India from LHR and six weekly flights from Birmingham (BHX).
A strong start to 2024: a growing network
In the first half of the year to June 2024, LGW recorded 19.9 million passengers using the airport. This is thanks to the nearly 60 airlines that connect the airport to more than 220 destinations worldwide, bringing the number of aircraft movements to a total of 122,725. This equates to a figure of up to 58 movements per hour, it says.
The company reported strong growth in the Asian market, with services to India, Central and East Asia all contributing to the increased passenger numbers. Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said:
“With demand for travel increasing, we are experiencing one of our busiest summers yet. Thanks to solid planning and close cooperation with our partners, we have started 2024 well and can guarantee our passengers a reliable and enjoyable experience.
Photo: Anand Balaji | Shutterstock
Our teams have worked incredibly hard to achieve these results and as we continue to expand our network and offer passengers more choice, we are working towards our vision of being the airport for everyone, whatever your journey.”
LGW’s Asian network has been expanded the most
Compared to the other focus regions, Asia was by far the busiest during this period. In the Central Asian network, Azerbaijan Airlines launched a three-times-weekly flight to Baku in March, which runs parallel to its connection to Heathrow, which operates at the same frequency.
Then, in April, it welcomed Uzbekistan Airways with a new service to Tashkent. This flight complements the airline’s existing flights to London Heathrow and will operate every Sunday. This is the third longest Airbus A320 route in the world. Finally Turkish Airlines also became part of the LGW family after the airline relocated its weekly connection from Heathrow to Ashgabat with a Boeing 777-200LR in April.
Photo: Soos Jozsef I Shutterstock
Now to East Asia. Beginning of June 
Air China began daily flights to Beijing Capital Airport. Soon after, on June 20, China, South flights to Guangzhou. Wear had previously said on this topic:
“After welcoming both Air China and China Southern to the airport last year, the additional routes underline the airlines’ commitment to growth at London Gatwick Airport. Together with China Eastern, we are delighted to further develop these positive relationships with China’s three largest airlines.”
Singapore Airlines also recently announced that it will increase the number of its flights to Gatwick from five weekly to daily from March next year.
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Singapore Airlines expands Airbus A350 flights to London Gatwick
Flights will begin in June 2024.
