Jet2 Eyes Long-Term London Gatwick Expansion

Jet2 says its new London Gatwick (LGW) base will be the foundation for further expansion, with CEO Steve Heapy telling analysts the airline has “no intention of standing still with six aircraft” and intends to chase further slots as they emerge at the capacity-constrained London hub.

The leisure carrier will launch LGW operations in March 2026, with five Airbus A321neos based at the airport and a sixth aircraft positioned overseas to support the schedule. The move includes 29 routes and nearly 900,000 seats for summer 2026, contributing to an 8.9% year-on-year increase in overall capacity to 20.1 million seats.

Heapy said the south of England market had been underserved by Jet2 and highlighted latent demand. “People from the Gatwick area have been asking us consistently for a long period of time to start operations there,” he told analysts. “There’s a huge amount of demand pent up for both package holidays and, more specifically, package holidays from Jet2holidays.”

LGW offers long-term growth opportunities beyond the initial six aircraft, Heapy explained. “There are slot opportunities that come up regularly, and I hope we will be able to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way over the next few years,” he said.

Heapy added that the airport’s proposed second runway “should come into operation in about 2030,” giving Jet2 further room to grow once its initial operation matures. “The key is first of all to grow and mature our Gatwick operation … and we keep up dialog with the airport and the slot coordinators to see what opportunities come our way,” he said. “We have a track record of grabbing opportunities as they come up.”

Jet2 will begin LGW operations with Tenerife flights on March 26. Other destinations include major leisure markets like Alicante and Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Faro in Portugal and Rhodes, Greece. The airline already served all 29 of the destinations from London Stansted during the summer 2025 season and 15 of them from London Luton.

Analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows that Jet2 will compete directly with easyJet and BA Euroflyer on nearly all of its 29 new routes from LGW, intensifying rivalry on the airport’s core short-haul leisure network.