Air Arabia plans Airbus A321LR flights to London Gatwick
Starting March 29, 2026, Air Arabia is set to fly double-daily between Sharjah and London-Gatwick.
Air Arabia has announced that starting in March 2026, it will begin double-daily flights from Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) to London Gatwick Airport (LGW), becoming yet another airline to fly from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the British capital.
On November 24, 2025, Air Arabia said that from March 29, 2026, which coincides with the beginning of the summer 2026 season, the low-cost carrier will begin double-daily services between SHJ and LGW.
Flight G9 258 will depart SHJ at 13:45 local time (UTC +4), and land at LGW at 18:35 local time (UTC +1), with the return itinerary departing at 19:35 and arriving back at the UAE airport at 05:50 the next day.
The second double-daily flight, G9 265, is scheduled to depart SHJ at 03:55, land at LGW at 08:45, and then return to SHJ at 20:20 following a scheduled departure time out of LGW of 10:05.
Air Arabia highlighted that the double-daily itineraries will be operated by Airbus A321LR aircraft. According to Flightradar24, the low-cost carrier has six A321neo aircraft registered in the UAE, five of which are the A321LRs.
When it reported its Q3 results on November 11, the airline said it added six aircraft to its fleet during the first nine months of 2025, “with more aircraft scheduled to join the fleet before [the] end of 2025.”
Airbus’ orders and deliveries filings showed that as of October 31, the UAE-based Air Arabia had 44 A321neo aircraft in its backlog, which includes A321XLR aircraft. During the Dubai Airshow in 2019, Air Arabia signed a firm order for 120 A320neo family aircraft, comprising 73 A320neo, 27 A321neo, and 20 A321XLRs.
Nevertheless, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that the SHJ-LGW itinerary will be Air Arabia’s second-longest route in April 2026, with the great circle distance between the two airports being 5,484 kilometers (2,961 nautical miles). Its longest route connects SHJ with Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL), with the two airports separated by 5,538 km (2,990 NM).
Cirium’s Diio Mi also indicated that in April 2026, there will be 150 weekly departures between the UAE and London’s airports, including LGW, Heathrow (LHR), and Stansted (STN). This includes Air Arabia's new route and Brunei Royal Airlines’ one-stop from Brunei International Airport (BWN) to LGW via Dubai International Airport (DXB).
During the month, Emirates is scheduled to offer 12 daily departures between DXB and LGW, LHR, and STN, while British Airways and Etihad Airways have three and four weekly departures from the UAE to LHR. The latter flies to LHR from Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH).
The British carrier has not scheduled any flights from AUH to LHR beyond April 12, 2026, at least for the time being, which could still change. During the summer 2025 season, British Airways also did not fly the route due to supply issues related to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, forcing the airline to adjust its schedules, including on other long-haul routes.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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