British Airways (BA) has received an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and operating licence for London Gatwick (LGW)-based BA Euroflyer, paving the way for the transfer of aircraft and routes to the subsidiary.

The oneworld alliance member announced plans for the new unit in December 2021 and launched operations in March this year, marking BA’s return to short-haul international flying from the London airport. All flights have so far been offered under the BA mainline AOC.

BA Euroflyer operates in a similar manner to sister carrier BA Cityflyer, which is based at London City (LCY) and operates under the BA name but exists as a separate entity.

Over the next six months, 10 Airbus A320s and nine A321s will transition from BA’s mainline fleet to BA Euroflyer. One A320, registration G-GATL, has already joined the fleet.

BA suspended flights from London Gatwick, the UK’s second-largest airport, in April 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis deepened and initially warned that flights may not return. However, some long-haul routes resumed in summer 2020 and short-haul international service restarted in March 2022 after a hiatus of almost two years.

During the northern summer 2022 season, OAG data shows that BA served 35 short- and medium-haul destinations from London Gatwick, including flights to Malaga (AGP), Nice (NCE) and Tenerife (TFS). About 37,500 weekly departure seats were offered on these routes during the peak summer weeks.

The latest schedules for summer 2023 indicate that 31 international short- and medium-haul points will be served from LGW, and peak summer weeks will see about 41,500 departure seats from the airport.

BA mainline will continue to operate long-haul and domestic flights from LGW. New long-haul routes scheduled to launch during 2023 include Port of Spain (POS) in Trinidad and Tobago from March 26 and Vancouver (YVR) from May 19. London Gatwick-Port of Spain will be offered 3X-weekly and London Gatwick-Vancouver 6X-weekly, both using Boeing 777 equipment.