Qatar Airways Quick to Quit Gatwick in May
Qatar Airways has recently announced that it will be pulling out of London Gatwick Airport at the start of the busy summer season.
From 31 May, the Doha-based carrier will stop offering daily cheap flights from Gatwick. The airline said that the reason behind this decision stemmed from an increasing lack of commercial interest among business travellers.
For Gatwick customers, the withdrawal of Qatar Airways' routes means that travellers seeking cheap flights to the Middle East, along with onward flights to Australia and Asia will have less choice of carriers. This could spell bad news for people who have booked Middle East holidays or breaks in similar destinations.
Qatar Airways' pull-out also means that only Emirates remains representing Gulf-based carriers operating cheap flights to Dubai from London Gatwick. Fellow Middle Eastern airlines Etihad and Oman Air quit the airport last year.
Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker expressed the airline's regret at having to leave Gatwick.
"We are extremely sad to be losing London Gatwick from our network after serving the route for the past seven years," he said. "But following a thorough review and analysis over the past few months, we have concluded that we could no longer sustain the route for commercial reasons. While we continue to grow our business, developing the network further, we do it prudently, cautiously and carefully."
Mr Al Baker stressed that Qatar Airways flights from London's Heathrow Airport will continue unchanged. He added that plans to increase its cheap flights from Manchester to twice a day will still come into effect on 1 June.
Airlines and Airport News posted by 
on 19 March 2011
