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When British Airways moved its short-haul flights from Gatwick to Heathrow last year to survive the pandemic downturn, some wondered if the UK’s flag carrier would ever return in full force.  The UK’s second airport, home base of low-cost rival easyJet, had always been a tougher challenge than Heathrow, its main hub of operations and the link to its once lucrative transatlantic routes. “It was always seen as a difficult business because of [BA’s] cost structure,” said Chris Tarry, aviation consultant at Ctaira consultancy.  Over the past decade, easyJet’s share of flights from Gatwick increased by 25%, while BA’s declined by a third, according to Tarry. Now BA is aiming to return to short-haul flying from Gatwick and, according to two people close to the subject, has been in negotiations with unions for several months over more flexible terms and conditions to support a new, lower cost airline operating from the airport. However, lower cost does not mean low cost. People with knowledge of the situation said that the group was looking at setting up services “in line with BA brand guidelines”. This suggested that the airline would not try to replicate the offers and models operated by Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, but focus instead on leveraging advantages such as brand, reliability, flight times and loyalty, said analysts. Sean Doyle, BA CE, suggested in late July that the group would have to find a lower cost model if it was to operate a sustainable business out of the airport best known for its leisure traffic. “We’re looking at what are [the] options are for summer ’22 at Gatwick,” he told analysts and investors at the results meeting of parent group IAG late last month. “We need to be competitive because the market will be very competitive coming out at the other end of the pandemic.” Story has more.<br/>

Startup Connect Airways has landed a big partner for its planned service connecting Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport with the US: American Airlines. Connect flyers will benefit from a codeshare agreement and full “earn and burn” mileage benefits in American’s loyalty program when flights begin, Waltzing Matilda Aviation CEO John Thomas said Friday. As part of the partnership, the airline plans to serve Chicago O’Hare and Philadelphia — both large American hubs — among its first destinations from Toronto. Connect is owned by Boston-based Waltzing Matilda, which has operated as a charter carrier since 2008. “Our view is how do we give people in Toronto more than just a flight to Chicago — or some point in the US — how do we make this a one-stop connection into a massive network,” he said. It gives us “a much stronger value proposition to people in Toronto.” The tie up fits American’s aggressive strategy to find partners for gaps in its network. Earlier this year, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier launched tie ups with both Alaska Airlines on the West Coast and — controversially — JetBlue Airways in the Northeast in an effort to boost its competitive position. And in South America, it recently unveiled a new equity partnership with Chile’s JetSmart Airlines to provide local connections to its millions of frequent flyers in South America. American lacks a partner to Canada. “These partnerships are a means of being able to generate a massive amount of customer value,” American Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja said on August 25. “If we can create the biggest network for customers, everything kind of clicks into place from there.”<br/>