IAG Cargo adds Gatwick-Colombo, doubles Bangkok for winter 2026/27

Three weekly flights between London Gatwick and Colombo anchor IAG Cargo's 2026/27 winter schedule, alongside a doubling of Bangkok frequencies from three to six per week and a Delhi uplift from 14 to 21 flights that took effect in September.

The schedule runs October 2026 through March 2027, and it puts real belly capacity behind three of the busiest Europe-Asia trade lanes just as forwarders lock in winter allocations. Colombo is the new piece. The cargo operation rides on a British Airways passenger service that launched on 23 October 2026 with a three-class cabin, and IAG Cargo will sell the belly hold on all three weekly rotations.

Why Colombo, and why now?

Sri Lanka's export mix explains the routing. The service targets garments, perishables, rubber products, tyres and automotive components — cargo that pays for speed and can't sit in a port queue. A direct Gatwick link also plugs Sri Lankan shippers into IAG Cargo's onward network across Europe and the Americas, which matters for buyers in Frankfurt or Chicago as much as for exporters in Colombo.

The Asian push doesn't stop at the new route. Bangkok doubles from three to six weekly Gatwick flights — a substantial bet on south-east Asian winter volumes. Delhi has already moved from 14 to 21 weekly flights out of Heathrow, effective September, giving shippers on the UK-India lane half again as much capacity as last winter.

What does this change for forwarders?

Camilo Garcia Cervera, chief sales and marketing officer at IAG Cargo, framed the schedule around capacity and connectivity. "The introduction of Colombo, alongside additional services to Bangkok and Delhi, strengthens trade connections between Asia and key markets worldwide," he said. Combined with the group's North American network and wider winter capacity, "these changes give freight forwarders greater choice and flexibility when planning their shipments."

In practical terms: more allocation on lanes where winter capacity is usually tight, and a new origin point for South Asian apparel and perishables that previously transited elsewhere.

The transatlantic picture holds steady. IAG Cargo maintains services to 29 North American destinations across the winter, operated from London, Dublin, Madrid and Barcelona — the platform that makes the Asian feed commercially workable, since much of that freight connects westward.

The wider BA expansion underneath

The cargo moves sit inside a broader British Airways winter programme, per FlightGlobal. BA launches flights to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur from 9 January 2027, its second Australian destination, in a four-class configuration spanning World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World and First. More long-haul belly capacity follows: 11 destinations gain capacity, including Bridgetown, Cape Town, Kingston, San Jose and Tokyo. BA also introduces its first retrofitted Airbus A380 alongside several new deliveries this season.

Short-haul frequencies rise to Florence, Gothenburg, Jersey and Rome. Subsidiary BA Euroflyer launches twice-weekly Gatwick-Rovaniemi flights from 4 December 2026 to 4 January 2027 — a seasonal window that says most of what's in the hold.

Will the capacity stick?

The open question is demand. New seat capacity only pays if the cargo follows, and Colombo in particular carries launch risk: three weekly frequencies need consistent garment, perishables and components volumes through a full winter to justify renewal. The Bangkok doubling raises the same test at larger scale.

What's certain is the direction. IAG Cargo is adding belly capacity into Asia from two London gateways while keeping its 29-destination North American network intact, and forwarders planning winter shipments now have materially more options on lanes carrying some of the world's most time-sensitive freight. Whether Colombo survives beyond March 2027 depends on how fully those Sri Lankan export lanes fill the hold.