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BA has confirmed that it is to wet lease an aircraft from Air Belgium to cover its daily flight from London Heathrow to Cairo over three days in early September 2018.
The outbound flight BA155 from London Heathrow to Cairo will be operated by Air Belgium from Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 September 2018. As will the inbound flight BA154 from Cairo to London Heathrow from Tuesday 4 to Thursday 6 September 2018.
As its name suggests, Air Belgium is based in Brussels and it flies from Charleroi Airport in Southern Belgium to Hong Kong three times weekly.
No specific reason has been given for the wet lease. However, given the route is ordinarily operated with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, it’s a safe assumption that the grounding of these aircraft is the cause.
The flight will be operated by an Air Belgium A340-300 aircraft. The overall service standard should be similar to that of BA.
Premium Economy Passengers
Oddly, in its update for the travel trade BA have advised that there is no premium economy cabin on the Air Belgium aircraft.
However, the Air Belgium website indicates that it does in fact have a premium economy cabin!
BA has advised that most premium economy passengers will be downgraded to economy, but with their original baggage allowance and Avios earning entitlement, to be added retrospectively. Affected passengers will be entitled to claim a refund for the fare difference. Some passengers may also be upgraded to business class.
If this is not acceptable to any passengers, there is the option of rebooking onto an alternative BA operated service between London and Cairo on an alternative date. Affected passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com
