Top UK airport gets direct 2-hour flights to ‘Capital Of Children’ – with world-famous theme park and huge water park
NORWEGIAN is launching a new direct route from the UK to Billund – just one month after Ryanair closed its base at the Danish airport.
The new route will begin operating from London Gatwick on June 30, with six departures per week taking place in the summer.
Norwegian’s new route is good news for Brits wanting to head to Legoland Billund, with the theme park offering free entry to kids flying with Norwegian from Gatwick.
And the news gets even better because when Legoland Billund reopens in April, there will be a new pirate playground with a huge ship and inclusive play area.
Billund has been known as the ‘Capital of Children’ since 2010 and was the first Danish town to be named a UNICEF Child Friendly City five years ago, thanks to all its family-friendly attractions.
As well as Legoland, the town is also home to Lego House children’s museum, the huge Lalandia water park, WOW PARK Billund adventure park and the Teddy Bear Art Museum – enough to keep you very busy.
Sun Travel recently visited Billund – here’s what it’s like to go.
Flights will depart London Gatwick at 2.35pm local time before touching down in Billund at 4.10pm.
The return services will then leave Billund at 5.10pm, touching down in the UK at 6.55pm.
During the summer months, flights will operate every day apart from Saturdays.
After the summer, year-round service will fly between the two destinations five times per week.
Tickets are already on sale, with Sun Online Travel finding one-way fares from £42 per person.
Gatwick Airlines Relations Manager, Jennifer Newman, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Norwegian’s new, direct, year-round route connecting London Gatwick with Billund.
“The route offers crucial accessibility for both business and leisure travellers and contributes to London Gatwick’s impressive network across Europe and further afield.”
Sara Neergaard, Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Norwegian Denmark, said: “Norwegian and Billund Airport have been close partners for many years, and we have long considered the airport to have great growth potential for us.
“With Ryanair’s exit, we now see a unique opportunity to strengthen our presence at Billund Airport and Western Denmark. The new route to London Gatwick is the first step, and we are continuously looking at the possibility of expanding our offer from Billund further.”
Earlier this year, low-cost airline Ryanair scrapped flights to and from Aalborg, after Denmark announced new aviation taxes.
Meanwhile, at the end of last year, Norwegian launched three new routes from London Gatwick and Newcastle Airport.
London Gatwick is getting two new routes.
One route will operate to Ålesund – a port town in Norway that’s known for its connections to the Norwegian Fjords.
Meanwhile, Riga, the capital of Latvia, will also get a new Norwegian service.
Newcastle Airport will also get a new route to Copenhagen from May.
Other new flight routes launching from the UK
Plenty of other airlines are launching a host of new routes from UK airports; here are a few…
- Jet2 is launching a new service from Bournemouth and Agadir, just weeks after Ryanair scrapped the very same route
- Tour operator Jet2 is also launching new flights from Leeds Bradford Airport to Marrakesh
- easyJet is launching a new route from London Gatwick to Brest in Brittany this June
- Eastern Airways is poised to operate a direct route between Newquay Airport in north Cornwall and London Southend Airport in Essex
- British Airways is also launching a new flight from London Heathrow to Tbilisi on March 30.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has also launched two new flights to exciting destinations departing from London Heathrow.
And Ryanair is set to launch five new routes from a UK airport just in time for summer holidays.