Tickets to 35 short-haul destinations including Tenerife, Lanzarote, Amsterdam and Verona will be on sale from today.

The airline announced its intention to create a short-haul standalone business at Gatwick in August. The subsidiary will be similar to its operation from London City Airport, which operates under the British Airways name but exists as an entirely separate entity – BA CityFlyer.

BA short-haul flights will start operating from Gatwick at the end of March, with three Airbus short-haul aircraft initially, ramping ramp up to 18 aircraft by the end of May. The short-haul services will be operated by mainline BA until the new entity’s Air Operators Certificate is issued. Once the certificate is issued the subsidiary will be called BA Euroflyer, consistent with its sister subsidiary BA CityFlyer.

BA Euroflyer will herald BA’s return to short-haul flying from Gatwick, which was suspended as a result of Covid-19 in Spring 2020.

During the pandemic, several routes were moved to Heathrow airport, some of which will return to Gatwick, as well as being maintained at Heathrow to give customers choice, including Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, Marrakech and Tenerife. In addition, other new routes will be added at Gatwick including Athens, Berlin, Madrid, Milan Malpensa and Santorini.

Tickets are on sale at BA.com from today and start from £39 each way on selected dates. BA said the fares are ‘competitive’ with those of Gatwick no-frills carriers. British Airways Holidays also has a number of packages to the same destinations, starting from £119.

Sean Doyle, chairman and CEO at British Airways, said: “Today is a landmark moment for British Airways. The creation of a new British Airways short-haul organisation means Gatwick customers will benefit from access to a premium service from the UK’s flag carrier at competitive prices. We are looking forward to bringing a short-haul network back to Gatwick, with a fantastic flying team in place, to serve our customers from London’s second hub airport, which we feel sure will be a success.”

Stewart Wingate, CEO at Gatwick Airport, said: “This significant news will be very welcome for many people connected to the airport. Despite the ongoing public health situation, today’s announcement is a positive signal that consumer confidence is returning as people start thinking about making travel plans for next summer.

“Given the difficult period we have all just been through, we expect BA’s new and extensive network of services from Gatwick to destinations across Europe to be in high demand and our staff, retailers, restaurants, cafes and bars are all looking forward to welcoming BA passengers back in larger numbers from April next year.”