The two largest airlines at London Gatwick, easyJet and BA Euroflyer, both operate Airbus A320 family aircraft. This brings them into competition for pilots from the same talent pool.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, easyJet has increased its lead on seat share to Europe over BA Euroflyer, which is the London Gatwick short/medium haul subsidiary of British Airways.
However, this mainly reflects BA’s stop-start history at the airport.
Analysis by CAPA – Centre for Aviation indicates that BA Euroflyer is competitive on costs when compared with its parent company and with easyJet, and has lower staff costs per employee. This supports reports from a number of sources – or at least does not contradict them – that easyJet pays its pilots more than BA Euroflyer at London Gatwick.
In contrast with British Airways’ previous London Gatwick operations, BA Euroflyer reported a profit in 2023. If it is to remain profitable, it will need to weigh up the need to attract and retain pilots – with the imperative to remain cost-effective.