Loganair announces Derry to London Heathrow expansion for summer 2024

Among the changes the airline has announced is a third Sunday flight to City of Derry, and improved flight times on its City of Derry service.

The afternoon service from Derry will now depart at lunchtime, arriving in Heathrow by early afternoon and “opening up a far broader range of connections” to British Airways worldwide flights and those of Loganair’s other airline partners.

In the evening, the Heathrow-bound service will now depart Derry 40 minutes earlier at 5.30pm and the final flight of the day from Heathrow will leave at 7.45pm to arrive in Derry at 9.10pm, some 35 minutes earlier than today.

With both the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express rapid connections linking Heathrow with central London, the new flight times “continue to assure a full working day in London”.

Loganair’s Chief Commercial Officer, Luke Lovegrove, said: “The new flight times at City of Derry will bring a welcome difference to connections onwards to North America, with the lunchtime service now arriving in Heathrow in good time to connect on to Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Boston, Nashville, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Washington, where the previous timetable mandated customers to take the first flight of the day to Heathrow and spend several hours between flight connections.

“The earlier arrival now means that connections from City of Derry are reduced to between two and four hours as opposed to up to 10 hours to a wider range of destinations.”

“Worldwide connections to destinations in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent also remain widely available through Loganair’s codeshare with British Airways and through other airline partners including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and others.”

Steve Frazer, Managing Director at City of Derry Airport, said: "We are thrilled that Loganair services from City of Derry Airport to London Heathrow will increase in frequency with the new schedule commencing from March 31, 2024. This will provide corporate and leisure travellers across our catchment areas of Derry City & Strabane, Causeway Coast & Glens and Donegal, with increased connectivity to these key cities as the demand grows over the spring and summer period.”

“The additional service between City of Derry and London Heathrow on a Sunday evening will be particularly welcomed by business commuters in the North West.”

"We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with Loganair, which spans from back from 1979, and working together to grow our connectivity in line with the travel needs of our local market."

Staying closer to home, Loganair’s service linking Glasgow with City of Derry continues to operate up to five times each week – with flights on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

All flights on the route will be operated by 48-seat ATR turboprop or 49-seat Embraer 145 jet aircraft, increasing seat capacity in comparison to the smaller Saab 340 aircraft previously used on many of the Glasgow flights.

The airline serves more airports and routes within the UK than any other airline, providing a comprehensive network of regional connectivity for UK communities ranging from Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Isles to Cornwall Airport Newquay.

New ATR72-600 Next Generation turboprop aircraft – seating 72 passengers and offering best-in-class performance on fuel efficiency and emissions – are replacing 33-seat Saab 340s, making more seats available than ever before.

Together with major upgrades to the passenger cabins and operating systems of the Embraer 145 Regional Jets, this completes a multi-million-pound investment programme by Loganair in its aircraft fleet.

All Loganair fares include a checked baggage allowance. To book flights visit www.loganair.co.uk

The announcement comes just days after Economy Minister Conor Murphy announced funding to protect the continuation of the flights from the City of Derry Airport (CoDA) to London Heathrow.