BA A380 positioning from Heathrow to Gatwick
 

Its Manila not Heathrow that's the main issue. Manila only accepts A380s for 30 mins per week. To achieve this it would have to leave LHR during the night jet ban which isn't allowed hence the overnight at Gatwick.

30 minutes a week?

Talk about a narrow window!

So 10-15 landings in 30 minutes (based on 2-3 minutes between each)

Am somewhat curious to know why there is a 30 minute per week restriction?

I suspect it is due to the disruption it causes. There are 2 runways at NAIA, but mostly it's a one runway operation, and ATC seem to me incredibly cautious - they most certainly aren't running aircraft through every 50 seconds. Takeoff queuing at MNL is every bit as tedious as LHR or JFK.

Come think about it, I remember reading, somewhere internally, that the A380s en route to Manila would often stop at Clark field, wait there until the window opened, then hop to MNL. This LGW stop might be a good way to avoid that if the plane doesn't have to go to SIN beforehand for a flight.

Yet again, proof of how much of a clumsy affair is to deal with the A380 from an operational point of view.

How roomy is MNL airport? If it is one of those places where the runway can take an A380 but the taxiways are close enough together and many of them too small to take an A380, it could significantly disrupt their ground operations to have the behemoth shambling around the airport while lesser craft have to cower at the sidelines lest they be crushed... or something like that :)

I believe it causes too much disruption taxiing, so must arrive around 2am or similar

Previously they've been organising to swap out with an A380 service at SIN. Even that was a challenge as they haven't been able to leave the A380 at Changi for long periods - using KL or Clark to wait to leave to/from MNL

Lol, that's insane, Clark is so close it's like another LHR-LGW run haha.

It really is amazing that a plane was designed with seemingly no regard for existing infrastructure. I'm not old enough to have a good perspective on 747s, but maybe it was the same for that? Every time the 380 comes in here at YVR, taxiways have to be closed and only 1 gate I believe is still equipped (it MAY be 2 now). I remember we got a diversion to/from SFO one night and it turned into a whole thing of "crap we need to move a 380 from the gate to the pad cuz only 64 can handle it"...just nuts.

Bad for the climate flying empty A380's 6000 miles for maintenance. Bad for jobs doing the same thing (ask the ship builders on the Clyde (Trump has the right idea here at least)). Maybe one day people will realize the folly of it all but by then will probably be too late