British Airways Replacing Old-Bird Gatwick 777-200s With 787-10s From 2029

British Airways’ parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) has had a pretty good financial year ending 2025. They reported an after-tax net profit of €3.34 billion, 22% over the previous year with total revenue growing 3.5% to €33.2 billion, while operating profit before exceptional items rose 13.1% to €5 billion.

As part of their announcement, they also included updates about its aging Boeing 777-200ER fleet, specifically those used out of Gatwick. In total, British Airways has 43 Boeing 777-200ERs, ranging from around 17-29 years in age. They’ve definitely been a game change (one of my favorite aircraft types to be honest), but they’ve also seen better days.

British Airways has operated a subfleet of -200ERs out of Gatwick, with a denser cabin configuration geared towards lower yielding, leisure routes. If you look at a map, they use them mostly to many parts of the Caribbean, as well as a limited number of destinations in Africa, Asia and the United States.

Credit: Flight Connections

Thankfully, these tired birds will be phased out as IAG plans to replace them with Boeing 787-10s starting in 2029. In a statement, British Airways CEO Sean Doyle announced that part of its last order of 32 787-10s will be allocated specifically for Gatwick operations.

“I’m delighted to share the first of these brand-new aircraft will be delivered to Gatwick in 2029, starting the replacement of our existing 777-200 fleet,” Doyle said. “These new aircraft, featuring crew bunks, will help us continue improving the onboard experience for both customers and colleagues, while supporting the continued growth of our network.”

The London Gatwick hub typically sees about 12-13 777-200ERs in operation, but that number may go up to as many as 17 Boeing 787-10s given that BA will operate 50 of them in total once all deliveries are completed (assuming they don’t purchase any more).

Currently, BA has taken delivery of 12 with 38 more due. These units do not feature overhead crew rest areas, and are configured with eight first class suites, 48 Club Suites (business class), 35 World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) seats and 165 in economy. Both first and Club World are in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout, with the center 2 being slightly staggered from the single seats that line the cabin walls.

Even though there has been a general uplift in demand for premium travel across the world, I’m curious if BA will offer a reconfigured version for its Gatwick-based jets. Most of the Gatwick 777s typically only offer business class and below, even though they sometimes throw in the oddball 777-200ER with first class.

Given that Gatwick’s operations are geared towards lower profit destinations, I wouldn’t be surprised to see first class being stripped out to make room for more premium economy seating. For now, they have not commented on the final configuration (if they do make any changes), so we’ll have to wait and see.

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