Spain's Asturias to lose only direct flight to the UK

Vueling's decision to cut the only direct route between Asturias and the UK is a major blow for the Spanish region in particular, which has already seen a reduction in its international flight offering after Ryanair ceased all its operations there last year.

In fact, the Spanish airline's decision means that the northern region which houses Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés will go from having two flights to the English capital to none in little over a year, as Ryanair also axed its Asturias-Stansted flight in 2025.

"At Vueling, we constantly analyse our network and flight schedule to offer the best connectivity options to passengers and identify potential future opportunities. In this case, the route between Asturias and London Gatwick will cease operations during the upcoming winter season," the company explained, without giving the specific reasons for its decision.

Currently, Vueling offers three weekly flights between Asturias and London Gatwick, on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

This schedule will continue throughout the summer season and until the start of the winter season at the end of October, when it will end.

Asturias' Minister of Mobility, Environment and Emergency Management, Alejandro Calvo, has already spoken of the possibility that Asturias Airport will maintain its direct link with London.

Vueling's decision "does not mean" that the flight cannot be operated by another airline, he said, and assured that the regional government that they are working on a solution.

"We have viable routes and connections that are operated by a variety of companies, which makes us very optimistic about the continuation of the route to London," he added.

READ ALSO: Eight fascinating facts about Spain's Asturias region

Nonetheless, Vueling’s decision to discontinue the route does represent a significant setback for the Asturian airport's international connectivity.

Back in October of 2025, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary confirmed that the Irish airline would pull out of Asturias completely from March this year.

This included its flights to Rome, Brussels and Dusseldorf from Asturias.

This reason behind Ryanair’s decision to pull out of Asturias and many other smaller regional Spanish airports was in protest of Spanish airport operator Aena's airport charges, which have increased to 6.5 percent for 2026.

READ ALSO: Ryanair to slash all flights to Spain's Asturias region

Fortunately, Spanish low-cost airline Volotea announced at the end of 2025 that it would step in to replace some of the international routes cut by Ryanair, as well as to offer new ones.

From Asturias, Volotea currently offers several international routes to Brussels, Paris, Porto and Lisbon, as well as 11 different airports in Italy such as Rome, Naples, Venice and Palermo.

It also connects Asturias with 17 different destinations within Spain.

Whether or not the airline will step in to replace Vueling’s route to London remains to be seen.

READ ALSO: Volotea replaces Ryanair as Spain's Asturias airport regains international flights

The loss of so many routes to smaller regional airports, including to and from Asturias, is also a major setback for the Spanish Tourism Board, which has actively been trying to promote lesser-known destinations to help drive mass tourism away from the major hubs of the likes of Barcelona, Málaga and the Balearics and encourage visitors to spread out and explore further.

According to data from Spain's National Institute of Statistics, Asturias received just 371,160 international tourists in 2025, while the Balearics welcomed 15.7 million.