Jazeera Airways to serve London Heathrow

Jazeera Airways is launching a new route to London Heathrow (LHR) in mid-June, becoming the only LCC in the Middle East to operate direct flights to the airport.

The airline first entered the London market in October 2019, offering daily service from Kuwait (KWI) to London Gatwick (LGW) using Airbus A320neo aircraft.

The latest schedules data provided by OAG shows that KWI-LGW is listed to resume in late July although reservations are currently unavailable. It is understood the route remains on hold for the time being.

However, flights to Heathrow will begin on June 18 on board A320neos, operating every Friday. The airline intends to add more frequencies as travel restrictions ease.

“The new service to Heathrow Airport enables Jazeera to cater to popular demand for flights to London, including demand from business travellers, Kuwaiti students and the large segment of accustomed tourists who we believe are more than eager to return to London this summer, while many of whom own homes in the area,” Jazeera CEO Rohit Ramachandran said.

Flights from KWI will depart at 9.40 a.m. and arrive in LHR at 2.15 p.m. The return journey leaves the UK capital at 3.15 p.m. and arrives back in Kuwait at 11.30 p.m.

The planned launch comes despite Kuwait being placed on the UK government’s amber list of countries, meaning that anyone arriving into the UK must quarantine for 10 days and take two mandatory PCR tests.

Jazeera Airways will compete in the Kuwait-London market with Kuwait Airways, which currently offers three flights per week between KWI and LHR using A330-200s, rising to 4X-weekly in July.

British Airways is also scheduled to resume LHR-KWI on July 7, initially operating 3X-weekly using Boeing 787-9s, before increasing to 7X-weekly during August.

Photo credit: Joe Pries

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.