The UK flight routes still running during lockdown 2.0
These are – it doesn’t really need stating – hard times for airlines and the holiday industry. As if a virus that is approaching the first anniversary of its grip on humankind is not enough, recent weeks have seen many countries return – in varying degrees – to the lockdowns which shuttered economies and daily life in March and April. This makes travel increasingly tricky, with governments urging their citizens to stay at home, borders closed in some cases, and proof of Covid negativity often required at those which are not.
In this context, it is a surprise that any flights are operating at all. Of course, planes are still taking off, but a glance at the arrivals and departures boards for the UK’s major airports shows that airspace above the country is functioning at a fraction of normal capacity. Furthermore, what traffic there is in the skies is largely emanating from one hub: London Heathrow. Go beyond west London, however, and the roar of engines rapidly fades away – with only Manchester offering any reasonable number of services.
The picture is perhaps at its most stark at London Gatwick. Ordinarily, the capital’s second airport is a hive of activity – not least at this time of year, when sun-seekers begin to swap the European winter for the beaches of the Canaries, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. In this dark corner of 2020, though, operations are pared back to a minimum, with all flights departing from the North Terminal, as the South Terminal sits mothballed.
This is largely due to the collapse in demand (and legal scope) for package breaks during this second lockdown – easyJet, for example, are all but absent from runways at present. Heathrow aside, only Ryanair is really visible at the check-in desks, with a raft of flights still heading off to (predominantly) cities in Eastern Europe – while Jet2 and TUI Airways are mopping up travellers who managed to get away before the latest limitations came in.
This week’s news of a Covid-19 vaccine with 90 per cent efficacy has boosted hopes that this sorry situation will improve in 2021. But for now, there is very little up, up and away.
Flights still operating out of UK airports
The services below include codeshare arrangements. Therefore - for example - all American Airlines flights are also British Airways services; Delta comes under Virgin Atlantic. The listings are based on the relevant airport departure boards on November 11.
The list below is NOT exhaustive, and while correct at time of writing (November 11), it should not be used as a basis for planning a journey. If you are intending to travel in these straitened times (and cannot realistically postpone your journey until a later date), you should check the latest status of the flight directly with the airline.
London Heathrow
Aer Lingus: Dublin
Aegean Airlines: Athens
Aeroflot: Moscow
Air Canada: Montreal, Toronto
Air France: Paris
Air India: Bengalaru, Cochin, Delhi
All Nippon Airways: Tokyo
American Airlines: Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Washington DC
Austrian Airlines: Vienna
Biman Bangladesh Airlines: Dhaka
British Airways: Abuja, Accra, Amsterdam, Belfast, Bengalaru, Cape Town, Chennai, Delhi, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Johannesburg, Kuwait, Lahore, Manchester, Moscow, Newcastle, Rome, Sao Paulo, The Seychelles, Toronto
China Airlines: Taipei
Egyptair: Cairo
Emirates: Dubai
Ethiopian Airlines: Addis Ababa
Etihad: Abu Dhabi
Eurowings: Dusseldorf, Hamburg
Finnair: Helsinki
Iberia: Madrid
KLM: Amsterdam
Korean Air: Seoul
LOT Polish Airlines: Warsaw
Lufthansa: Frankfurt, Munich
Oman Air: Muscat
Qatar Airways: Doha
Royal Air Maroc: Casablanca
Saudia: Riyadh
Scandinavian Airlines: Stockholm
Singapore Airlines: Singapore
Swiss International Airlines: Zurich
TAP: Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines: Istanbul
United: Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC
Virgin Atlantic: Johannesburg, Lagos, New York JFK, Shanghai, Tel Aviv
Vistara: Delhi
London Gatwick
Air Europa: Madrid
British Airways: Bermuda, Kingston
Qatar Airways: Doha
Ryanair: Alicante, Dublin
TUI Airways: Kos
London Stansted
Jet2: Fuerteventura, Larnaca, Paphos
Loganair: Derry
Pegasus: Istanbul
Ryanair: Aarhus, Athens, Budapest, Bydgoszcz, Dublin, Faro, Kaunas, Krakow, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Lodz, Malaga, Milan, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Perugia, Pisa, Plovdiv, Porto, Riga, Rome, Rzeszow, Sofia, Szczecin, Tenerife South, Vilnius, Wroclaw
London Luton
Ryanair: Kaunas, Malta, Tenerife South
Wizz Air: Varna
London Southend
No flights on November 11
Bristol
Blue Islands: Jersey
KLM: Amsterdam
Ryanair: Alicante, Bucharest, Faro Krakow, Wroclaw,
Birmingham
Aer Lingus: Belfast
Jet2: Tenerife South
KLM: Amsterdam
Lufthansa: Frankfurt
Ryanair: Gdansk, Krakow, Lanzarote, Porto
Liverpool
Loganair: Isle of Man
Ryanair: Derry, Dublin, Kosice, Malaga, Paphos, Szczecin
Manchester
Aer Lingus: Belfast
Air France: Paris
Blue Islands: Aberdeen, Inverness, Isle of Man
British Airways: Heathrow
Emirates: Dubai
Jet2: Fuerteventura, Larnaca, Paphos, Tenerife South
KLM: Amsterdam
Loganair: Aberdeen
Pegasus: Istanbul
Qatar Airways: Doha
Ryanair: Berlin, Corvera, Gothenburg, Prague, Tenerife, Thessaloniki
TAP: Lisbon
TUI Airways: Fuerteventura, Sal, Sharm El Sheikh
Glasgow
British Airways: Heathrow
Loganair: Benbecula, Campbeltown, Islay, Stornoway
Jet2: Tenerife South
Edinburgh
Aer Lingus: Belfast
British Airways: Heathrow
KLM: Amsterdam
Loganair: Sumburgh
Ryanair: Malta, Sofia
Aberdeen
Loganair: Kirkwall, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich
TUI Airways: Tenerife South
Wideroe: Bergen
Cardiff
Blue Islands: Dublin, Shannon
KLM: Amsterdam
Ryanair: Dublin, Venice
Titan Airways: Vienna
Vueling: Alicante
Doncaster-Sheffield
Wizz Air: Bucharest
TUI Airways: Tenerife South
Leeds-Bradford
Aer Lingus: Belfast
KLM: Amsterdam
Ryanair: Alicante, Dublin, Gdansk, Malaga, Riga, Warsaw
Newcastle
British Airways: Heathrow
KLM: Amsterdam
Loganair: Aberdeen, Southampton
East Midlands
Aer Lingus: Belfast
Jet2: Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife South
Ryanair: Alicante
TUI Airways: Lanzarote
Exeter
No flights on November 11
Humberside
Eastern Airways: Teesside
KLM: Amsterdam
Southampton
Aurigny: Guernsey
Blue Islands: Jersey
Norwich
Loganair: Aberdeen
Belfast
easyJet: Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow
Ryanair: Krakow
Jet2: Lanzarote, Tenerife South