British Airways: London Gatwick-Nice

London Gatwick (LGW) to Nice (NCE) is a new route that is shortly to be reintroduced by British Airways (BA), which currently provides service to Nice from both London Heathrow (LHR) and London City (LCY). From 25 March 2012, the route will be operated three times daily with a mix of short-haul Airbus and Boeing Aircraft, such as the Boeing 737-400 and the Airbus A319.

British Airways will be aiming this route largely at leisure passengers, as     their two other routes from Heathrow and London City will most likely absorb most of the business traffic. A clue that the flights a more leisure oriented is the schedule, with the same number of flights operating on weekdays and at the weekend. The flights are frequent, permitting day trips to Nice or London Gatwick and any other length of trip besides.

1234567/ BA2622/ LGW07.40-10.40NCE/ BA2623/ NCE11.25-12.25LGW

1234567/ BA2624/ LGW13.05-16.05NCE/ BA2625/ NCE16.50-17.50LGW

1234567/ BA2626/ LGW19.20-22.20NCE/ BA2621/ NCE07.05-08.05LGW

It is clear that this is an offensive move against easyJet (U2), who are British Airways' only direct competitor on the route. At the time this route will launch next March, the orange low-cost airline will have 22 weekly flights to Nice, only one more than BA, with 21. However, when we consider all London airports, BA will be ahead overall, with 77 weekly flights, compared to easyJet's 43 (LGW, LTN and STN), which reaches 50 during the peak summer months. BMI comes a paltry third with 7 weekly flights, between Heathrow and Nice. 
Londres Gatwick (LGW) vers Nice (NCE) est une nouvelle ligne de la compagnie British Airways (BA), qui débutera le 25 mars prochain avec 3 vols quotidiens, effectués avec des avions court-courriers tels que l'Airbus A319 et le Boeing 737-400. Surtout destinée aux passagers loisirs, British Airways aura un concurrent majeur direct sur la ligne, easyJet (U2), qui détient le monopole depuis plusieurs années. British Airways vole aussi vers Nice depuis Heathrow et Londres City.

A British Airways A319 taxiing at Geneva