It took five years, but US Airways will begin nonstop flights from Charlotte to London’s preferred airport in late March. Would strongly presume that they’ll drop the existing London Gatwick service at the same time. More details, like flight time and how they acquired the London Heathrow (KHR) slots, as they become available.
Update: Note the routing for the flight: Miami – Charlotte – London Heathrow. Why Miami? Because that’s the key to US Airways getting marketable LHR slots. The irony here is that as a condition for approving the American Airlines/British Airways joint venture on the North Atlantic, AA+BA were required to give up four slots pairs at Heathrow to allow competing flights in specific U.S. markets: 2 x Boston, 1 x Dallas/Ft. Worth, and 1 x Miami. Delta Air Lines tried a nonstop Miami – London Heathrow flight which failed and has been dropped. So now it seems that US Airways is using those same slots for a direct (one-stop) Miami – London Heathrow flight, with the stop being Charlotte.
