New Zealanders travelling to Europe will have a new route option in 2024 as Singapore Airlines launches services to Gatwick Airport in London in addition to its Heathrow services.
The route opens up a new way to get to many destinations in Europe, especially using budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet which do not use Heathrow.
It could also serve as a more convenient airport for getting to southeast England than Heathrow.
Singapore Airlines will be the fourth airline to offer travellers from New Zealand a service to Gatwick in two flights in addition to the current options:
- Qatar Airways (stopover in Doha)
- Emirates (stopover in Dubai)
- China Eastern (stopover in Shanghai).
The inaugural SIN-LGW will depart Singapore at 23:55pm on June 21, 2024 and arrive in London at 06:25am on June 22.
It will be operated on Airbus A350-900 aircraft five times per week on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Looking at the June travel dates, the New Zealand flights that would result in the shortest stopover at Changi Airport are as follows:
- AKL-SIN on SQ286 would mean two hours and 55 minutes at Singapore Changi International Airport between flights
- SIN-AKL on SQ4281 (operated by Air New Zealand) would mean two hours and 25 minutes at Changi.
The flights to Gatwick will be in addition to the Singapore Airlines' 28 services per week to Heathrow and five per week to Manchester.
While offering a new option for Kiwis travelling to Europe, the route may also be appreciated by travellers coming the other way, too.
"For passengers across London and the Southeast, the new route will provide huge connectivity potential, not only to the fantastic destination of Singapore, but more widely across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand," said Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate.
