Singapore Airlines has recently announced their plans to commence service to London Gatwick from late-June 2024. The service will operate five-times weekly from 21 June 2024, utilising the long-haul version of the A350-900. The new service to London Gatwick will complement the existing four-times daily London Heathrow services. The new Gatwick service will take SIA’s London flights to 33 per week, up from the current 33 weekly.
The details
The new Singapore-Gatwick flight – SQ310 – will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday and Sundays. SQ310 departs Singapore at 11.55pm, arriving into Gatwick at 6.25am the next day. The inaugural SQ310 is set for Friday 21 June 2024. The return flight – SQ309 – operates on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It’s wheels up from Gatwick at 10.15am, touching down in Singapore at 6.20am the day after.
SQ310/309 will utilise the 3-class long-haul A350, configured with 42 Business, 24 Premium economy and 187 economy. These are the 9V-SM* and SJ* aircraft. In Business, passengers will find the very familiar A350-version of the 2013 long-haul business class seat. This is good seat, and probably my preferred SIA business class seat at the moment, despite the A350 version being slightly narrower than the 777 version.
SIA will operate at Gatwick’s North Terminal. The North Terminal is also used by carriers such as Emirates, Lufthansa, and is a major hub for easyJet. The North Terminal is mildly inconvenient, which I’ll explain below.
My thoughts
I’d heard from the grapevine several weeks backs that SIA had applied for Gatwick slots, and it appears they succeeded in getting slots. I’m sure SIA also tried to get more Heathrow slots, but had to settle for Gatwick instead. I’ve arrived at Gatwick once, and it was fine apart from the automated gate not working and having to deal with a grumpy immigration officer.
Gatwick is considerably further by road from central London compared to Heathrow. This makes road transport options longer, and considerably more expensive if looking at cabs or Uber. There is plenty of rail options, with direct services to major stations in London such as Victoria, Blackfriars and St. Pancras. Journey time to London Victoria is around 30-35min. I usually stay around Westminster when in London, so train service to Victoria actually works really well. The challenge with rail however, is that Gatwick railway station is located at the South Terminal. This means SIA passengers will have to take an automated people-mover between the two terminals. Having done this before, I can say it’s a mild inconvenience. For as long as my preferred accommodation is at Westminster, Gatwick might actually be preferred for arrival.
There’s the question of lounge, in the question of Heathrow vs Gatwick. Heathrow has numerous Star Alliance lounges, including a SilverKris Lounge. Gatwick North Terminal has several third-party lounges, although Emirates operates their own lounge. It remains to be seen which lounge SIA contracts with, although my guess would probably be the Plaza Premium, No1 Lounges or Clubrooms by No1.
London Gatwick is the second new destination announced by SIA for 2024. Brussels is set to launch on 5 April, a destination which was pushed back by the pandemic. I’ll be on the Brussels inaugural, but am still undecided for Gatwick.
Conclusion
Singapore Airlines will commence services to London Gatwick from 21 June 2024, using the 3-class long haul A350s. The five-times weekly services will be in addition the existing four-times daily London Heathrow services. While most travellers are probably more familiar with Heathrow, Gatwick does offer advantages, depending on which area of London one is headed to. Lounge options for passengers remain a question mark, and may a factor for some travellers in making the choice between Gatwick and Heathrow.