There’s something exciting about inaugural flights. The route length and airline don’t matter. All that’s important is that they’re celebrated and made special. After all, it’s an easy and inexpensive way to gain publicity and more bookings—and they’re great fun.

It is even more notable when a new airline joins an airport’s portfolio. And in the case of London Gatwick, they welcome a new carrier regularly. On April 1, the German leisure carrier Condor became the fifth airline so far this year—all starting within 11 days. I was delighted to be on Condor’s inaugural flight as a guest of the carrier.

The Run-Up To Condor’s First Departure from Gatwick

Condor’s new route from Frankfurt to Gatwick marked the German leisure carrier’s debut in the UK. The route exists as a budget option between Frankfurt and London (which had over a million local passengers last year) and for passengers to connect in Frankfurt to reach many destinations across Europe and beyond. Condor serves Gatwick three times daily. It is bound to make my new weekly celebratory article (see this week’s edition).

Largely to avoid the inevitably massive traffic jam on the M25, which is the UK’s largest car park, I arrived at Gatwick at 7:50 am, two-and-a-half-hours before the 10:20 am departure. Curiously, Condor’s boarding pass said the airline uses the North Terminal, while Gatwick’s website says it’s the South Terminal. While this inconsistency needs to be ironed out, it did not prove a problem.

Despite traveling in Condor’s business class (more on that below), I couldn’t obtain a boarding pass in advance. So I went to Zone D in the North Terminal. Despite having a separate business check-in desk, no staff were available, so I had to use the economy desk instead. The lady was apologetic and allowed me to go first in the line. But the bigger frustration was waiting landside for quite a while just to get a boarding pass.

It was unclear if the ticket included security fast track. It was not stated elsewhere either. I headed to the security zone, and asked the member of staff manning the fast-track desk. She was unsure, and stated, “You’re flying Condor, is that Air France?”

Access to the Plaza Premium Lounge was included. While a simple setup, it has a great view, including many stands and the runway and two parked Emirates Airbus A380s due to the war. I liked the welcome sign (but featuring a Condor 767-300ER in the old livery) celebrating the arrival of the airline and the special drink. Happily, the lounge was quiet.

The Aircraft And Boarding

Flight DE4122 boarded at gate 50. I passed Air France’s gate for the flight back to Paris CDG. The SkyTeam carrier is another new airline in Gatwick’s portfolio. Well, that’s not strictly true. It last flew to the UK’s second-busiest airport in 2007, albeit not from Paris. While walking to the gate, I spotted Air Arabia to Sharjah on the flight information screen. But due to the war, this carrier has postponed its launch until June. If it didn’t, Gatwick would have welcomed six airlines in 11 days!

No new route or airline launch would be complete without celebratory items, and this launch did not disappoint. There were free pens, key ring attachments, other merchandise, and a lot of cake. I was asked if I’d like a second slice, which I would have done—but it was not even 9:30 am.

Despite the big ‘Airbus 320 NEO’ on the boarding pass, the A320ceo was used. Registered D-ATCH, the aircraft is 25-years-old and one of the oldest frames in Condor’s fleet. According to Flightradar24, it arrived in Gatwick at 8:37 am, around 1h 45m before its departure back to Germany. While Condor’s striped livery is highly controversial, I love it—it really stands out.

DE4122 started boarding at 9:48 am, which was half an hour or so before departure. Yet the boarding took a pretty long 22 minutes, although the flight was not full. The aircraft pushed back one minute early at 10:19 am. Due to the maneuvering of a nearby TUI Boeing 787-9 going to Melbourne (Florida) and an Air Transat A321LR that pulled on stand after arriving from Toronto, it took seven minutes before starting to taxi to runway 26L. As there was only one aircraft departing in front of us, and the arriving aircraft was far enough out on final approach, we took off at 10:34.

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The Seat, Food, And Flight

Condor’s business class is of the typical European standard, comprising the middle seat being left free. While some airlines have a table in-between, to make it more formal, Condor had nothing, not even cushions. Given the fixed curtain, there’s a distinct premium cabin. I wonder if economy passengers can use it if there’s no one in business. On this flight, three-quarters of the seats were full, but mainly with Condor employees.

I was in seat 2A, which was exactly the same as the A320ceo’s economy seats. The hard product was 100% identical. There were no extra legroom or any other features. Pleasingly for an old aircraft on a short flight, a moving map was available (this was not on the newer aircraft when I returned to Gatwick). Entertainment was also available, but it did not load on my device. I could have also downloaded up to three Condor eJournals, but I didn’t, as I had my own book.

Eight minutes after takeoff, even before the aircraft reached the English coastline, drinks were offered: hot, soft, or alcoholic. As it was only 10:46, I opted for a coffee, which was good—but the chocolates were even better. While served in a cool striped mug, the stripes were the wrong way to the livery!

While I didn’t have a choice of food, I was offered a cold breakfast dish, which was very tasty. The website said a ‘high quality’ sandwich would be available on flights up to 90 minutes, but I much preferred this dish. Amusingly, the food and drink were consumed upon reaching the French coast.

The aircraft landed in Frankfurt at 12:36 local time, 1h 2m after takeoff, on runway 07L. After an 11-minute taxi to stand B47, during which time half a dozen 747s were viewed, a nice thought entered my mind. Frankfurt is now home to 70% of the world’s remaining passenger 747 flights and 52% of the last A340 services.