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.

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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