Cheap Flights from London

Living in or near London, you are lucky to have loads of choices between airports. This gives you the flexibility to say, "What? Stansted won't get me to Barcelona on the cheap? Let's try Gatwick..." With the sheer number of airlines which serve London's many airports, the list of cities you can get to cheaply is nearly endless. Yes, you are very lucky, indeed.

For starters, London Heathrow Airport (airport code LHR) is only the busiest airport in the entire world in terms of international passenger traffic. Lying about 15 miles from central London, it is one of only two airports actually in Greater London. Airlines that use Heathrow as a hub are British Airways, bmi and Virgin Atlantic, but dozens of airlines fly in and out of the airport daily to hundreds of cities around the world. Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic make frequent long haul international flights to and from Heathrow, but flight restrictions between the United States and Heathrow have caused many major airlines with US-London flights to use other airports. Landings at Heathrow can often be delayed because airline traffic backs up on the runways.

To get a good overview of the airlines serving Heathrow and the destinations to which they fly, there is a comprehensive list on this page. Pay special attention to the terminal your flight leaves from, as Heathrow has four massive terminals (soon to be five) and getting from one to another can be time consuming.

Gatwick Airport (airport code LGW), London's second-largest, actually has quite a large number of major carriers which opt to make Gatwick their London home as opposed to Heathrow because of the flight restrictions which still exist between Heathrow and the United States. Charter airlines also tend to use Gatwick instead of Heathrow. As the crow flies, Gatwick is actually closer to Brighton than London. Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have secondary hubs at Gatwick.

Gatwick serves approximately 200 destinations worldwide, and you can see the list of both destinations and airlines here. The airlines which serve the most cities from Gatwick are British Airways, Astraeus, First Choice Airways, easyJet, Monarch Airlines, Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook Airlines and XL Airways. The airport is much easier to navigate than Heathrow, as it has only two terminals.

London Stansted Airport (airport code STN) is the third busiest airport in London. Due to its distance from London itself (about 30 miles) and lower overall operational costs, it is a popular hub for several of Europe's major budget airlines, including Ryanair, Air Berlin, Wizz Air and easyJet. Stansted has one terminal and one runway, making operations and passenger movement simple.

A list of all the airlines which fly in and out of Stansted, along with the destinations they serve, is here. Ryanair has the longest list of destinations from Stansted, followed by easyJet and Air Berlin.

Continuing down the line, London Luton Airport (airport code LTN) is London's fourth largest airport. It lies about 30 miles north of London, but very close to a junction on the M1 motorway, making it easy to access. Like Stansted, Luton is a popular hub for Europe's low-cost carriers, and the airport's daily schedule also includes a significant number of charter flights as well. Monarch Airlines, easyJet, Thomsonfly, First Choice Airways, Thomas Cook Airlines, Wizz Air, Silverjet and Ryanair all have a home at Luton. easyJet and Thomsonfly have the longest lists of destinations served from Luton. For a map showing cities served by London Luton, go to this page.

Lastly, we have London City Airport (airport code LCY), London's fifth international airport. It is close to London's financial district, so is popular with commuters. Many of the flights from London City are short-haul business flights within Europe. Its short runway limits the size of aircraft which can fly in and out, and there are also severe noise limits imposed on the airport (no flights are allowed between 21.30 and 5.30 during the week, with even more restrictions on the weekends), all of which make it ideal for use as a business traveller's airport. London City is served by less than a dozen airlines, with the busiest being Lufthansa Regional, Air France (operated by CityJet), British Airways (operated by BA CityFlyer) and VLM Airlines. A list of all the destinations served from London City Airport is here.