London Gatwick Airport will welcome 7 new airlines in 2026: Who they are and where they will fly
January 28, 2026
London Gatwick Airport (LGW) is gearing up for another bumper year in 2026 with the arrival of seven new airlines. Heathrow’s lack of available slots is driving airlines towards Gatwick, which is increasingly seen as a viable alternative for serving London and the southeast.
With more carriers arriving and others expected to follow, 2026 is shaping up to be Gatwick’s busiest year yet.
London Gatwick builds momentum with new airlines and new routes in 2026
London Gatwick Airport, located around 50 miles from Central London and around 38 miles from London Heathrow Airport (LHR), is once again hoping that 2026 proves to be a record-breaking year.
By the end of 2025, 58 airlines were serving the airport, operating scheduled passenger flights to 227 destinations worldwide. This figure includes more than 50 long-haul flights a week to the Middle East, 39 to Africa and 36 to China.
Although official figures are yet to be published, the facility is expected to announce that it handled around 50 million passengers throughout 2025, making the airport the world’s busiest with just a single-runway operation.
With the airport’s closest rival, London Heathrow, facing ongoing shortages of slots and a constrained temrinal capacity, airlines wishing to either expand their London services or commence new ones are considering London Gatwick as a viable option.
As seen back in the ’80s and ’90s when Heathrow was considered to be “full”, Gatwick is once again benefiting from overflow traffic.
But it is not just new airlines and new standalone routes that are going in Gatwick’s favour. With the gradual build-up of routes and airlines, the airport is once again attracting connecting traffic, as passengers fly into the airport on one airline and immediately fly out on another.
While this phenomenon has not been seen at Gatwick for many years in any substantial numbers, transiting passengers are now making up more of its annual total as connections improve. This alone is a major attraction to new airlines considering Gatwick as the next destination on their route map.
With several new airlines having already commenced services to Gatwick in 2025 (including Uganda Airlines, Qanot Sharq, Skybus, Kenya Airways and Air Peace), the momentum appears to be holding up for 2026, with more new route announcements expected in the months ahead.
Gatwick gets seven new airlines in 2026 – who are they?
Over the course of the latter half of 2025, seven new airlines announced an intention to begin serving London Gatwick with regularly scheduled passenger flights. Offering flights to a wide range of new destinations, both low-cost carriers and full-service airlines will arrive at Gatwick, boosting its passenger figures and adding to the airport’s credibility as a serious contender to Heathrow’s mantle.
Capital Airlines – Qingdao, China
Announced in July 2025, Capital Airlines, a Chinese low-cost airline and a division of HNA Group, intends to operate direct, limited-time, and seasonal flights connecting Qingdao (TAO) and London Gatwick (LGW) using Airbus A330 aircraft during the summer of 2026.
Although based in Beijing, the airline seeks to offer increased flexibility for passengers travelling between East China and the UK, as reported by China Daily.
For the northern summer 2026 season, the airline plans to run a single weekly flight between 24 June and 7 October, using A330-200 equipment (of which the carrier has five), offering both business class and economy class cabins.
AnimaWings – Bucharest, Romania
In September 2025, Romanian private airline AnimaWings announced that it would begin operating a six-times weekly service between Bucharest (OTP) and Gatwick.
This will be the first time that London has been served directly by a Romanian airline since the country’s national carrier, TAROM, pulled out of serving Heathrow in October 2024.
The flights will operate daily except for Saturdays from 22 March 2026 and will be operated by the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A220-300s, of which it currently has three. Each flight will offer a three-class cabin featuring business class, premium economy and economy class seating.
Air Arabia – Sharjah, UAE
In November 2025, the UAE-headquartered division of Air Arabia announced that it would begin twice-daily flights between its hub in Sharjah (SHJ) and Gatwick using its Airbus A321LR aircraft, of which the carrier currently has six, in addition to three A321neos. The service will be the only direct service between this United Arab Emirates destination and the UK.
Starting 29 March 2026, the new route will increase the total weekly flights between London Gatwick and the Middle East to 80.
Multiple carriers have increased capacity to the region from Gatwick since 2024, with Wizz Air launching its A321XLR services to Medina and Jeddah, Qatar Airways operating larger 787-9 aircraft to Doha, Saudia increasing frequency of its new Neom Bay route, and Gulf Air operating its first northern summer at Gatwick in 2025, operating to Bahrain.
Jet2 – multiple European destinations
Also in November 2025, Jet2, the UK-based leisure airline and one of the largest charter airlines in Europe, announced the establishment of a new base at Gatwick.
The airline will launch operations with six aircraft serving a network of 29 routes, and, according to the airport, marks the largest new-based airline at London Gatwick this century.
With its new commitment to London Gatwick, Jet2 has already put a significant programme on sale for its first summer of operations, with 29 destinations available. The first flight from London Gatwick will take off for Tenerife on 26 March.
Condor – Frankfurt, Germany
On 14 November 2025, German airline Condor revealed that it would be expanding its scheduled route network to include London for the first time. Starting in April 2026, the airline will connect Frankfurt (FRA) and London Gatwick with three daily flights. All flights will be operated by the carrier’s fleet of A320neos and A321neos twin-aisle aircraft.
According to Condor, the new service is “ideal for both business trips and weekend getaways.”
Peter Gerber, CEO of Condor, said: “With London Gatwick, we are adding another exciting metropolis to our city network, offering business travellers and city tourists even more options. The launch of this route is another clear signal of our growth in the European market.”
Air France – Paris, France
In December 2025, Air France announced that it would make a return to Gatwick, over 30 years since it last served the airport using Boeing 727s. With the airline deciding that there was once again virtue to serving the airport, the French national carrier will be offering twice-daily services between Paris Charles de Gaulle(CDG) and the airport using its Airbus A220 fleet.
Commencing on 29 March 2026, which also marks the start of the IATA 2026 summer scheduling season, Air France will be keen to take advantage of connecting passengers using its new service to access the carrier’s global network of nearly 170 destinations across 73 countries, via its Paris hub.
Eurowings – Cologne/Stuttgart, Germany
Announced in January 2026, German carrier Eurowings announced that, as part of a consolidation of its London routes, the carrier would also serve Gatwick Airport from March 29. Offering two routes initially, the airline will begin flying from Gatwick to Cologne (CGN) on that date, with Stuttgart (STR) flights commencing on 12 April.
Flights to Cologne will start with 13 weekly services (double daily except a single flight on Saturdays), while Stuttgart will be served six times per week with no Saturday flight. All flights will be operated by the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A320s.
According to Simple Flying, Cologne was last served regularly from Gatwick by easyJet until 2022. British Airways operated the route between 2018 and 2020, but the route returned to Heathrow in 2023.
Jet2 is planning a limited Gatwick to Cologne programme of flights for Christmas markets in November and December 2026. Meanwhile, Stuttgart last had Gatwick flights in 2020, when easyJet pulled off the route, having served the German city for five years.
More airlines to come to Gatwick in 2026?
With barely a month of 2026 completed, London Gatwick Airport will already look different this year compared to last, with the liveries of these seven new airlines gracing the airport with their presence.
Yet, with the rest of 2026 still lying ahead, and the constraints at Heathrow not likely to alleviate any time soon, Gatwick will be working hard to attract other new airlines to join its portfolio of carriers already serving the airport. Time will tell whether these hopes come to fruition.
Featured image: Markus Mainka / stock.adobe.com
