British Airways Archives – Page 2 of 72

British Airways Closes Amsterdam Lounge

The British Airways Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol airport will not reopen as a BA lounge.

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British Airways Lounge, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (Image Credit: British Airways)

The British Airways Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol airport will not reopen as a BA lounge.

The lounge has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst all other BA lounges worldwide have reopened or have been confirmed as closed, this lounge has remained as “temporarily closed”.

Eligible BA passengers at Amsterdam can continue to use the Aspire lounge.

The BA lounge was part of the Priority Pass lounge access scheme. It is likely that another operator will take over the lounge.

This leaves BA with just three of its own branded lounges in mainland Europe at Geneva, Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino.

British Airways Suspends London Heathrow – Bangkok

BA has suspended passenger flights between London Heathrow and Bangkok.

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British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (Image Credit: Heathrow)

British Airways has suspended its route from London Heathrow to Bangkok.

Passenger flights to Bangkok have been suspended since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A large number of cargo flights have operated.

The route was due to return on a winter seasonal basis from Sunday 30 October 2022. It is now suspended. This was expected as flights had been taken off sale in advance of the route being cancelled.

This brings to an end almost 85 years of passenger flights to Bangkok, dating back to BA’s predecessor airline Imperial Airways.

Whilst there is strong cargo demand from Bangkok, it is seen as a low yield passenger route. There is a lot of competition from airlines flying non-stop and via rival hubs in the Middle East.

Airportr Expands BA Luggage Collection Service To Geneva

Passengers flying with British Airways from Geneva can use Airportr to have their luggage collected in advance of travelling to the airport.

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Picture of Airportr employee tagging bag of British Airways passenger. — British Airways & Airportr Partnership (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has, for many years, partnered with the luggage collection service Airportr.

Airportr offers passengers the option to have their luggage collected from their home, office or hotel at pre-arranged time up to 24 hours before departure.

Luggage is then checked-in with BA on their behalf. This leaves passengers free to travel to the airport without their luggage in tow and to collect their bags at their final destination.

BA Adds Flexibility For All Heathrow Passengers

Any passengers due to fly with British Airways from London Heathrow up to 25 July 2022 can rebook to an alternative flight.

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London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: Heathrow)

British Airways has introduced additional flexibility for all passengers due to fly from London Heathrow in the coming weeks.

There are well publicised issues with congestion at Heathrow terminals. This has resulted in Heathrow imposing a cap on departing passenger numbers.

Any passengers due to travel from Heathrow up to Monday 25 July 2022 can rebook to an alternative BA operated flight to the same destination within 12 months of the date of travel. This includes flights from other London airports.

Alternatively passengers who do not wish to travel can request a voucher for travel up to 30 September 2023. Full refunds are only possible if allowed under the original fare rules.

BA has periodically introduced this policy for short haul flights, particularly at weekends.

It now applies to both short and long haul flights at Heathrow until 25 July.

British Airways Suspends London Gatwick – Manchester

BA has suspended its daily flight between Gatwick and Manchester from 30 October 2022.

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Manchester Airport Terminal 3 (Image Credit: Manchester Airport)

British Airways has suspended its route from London Gatwick to Manchester.

The daily connection between Gatwick and Manchester is suspended from Sunday 30 October 2022.

The route which is operated by Heathrow based aircraft & crews as a “W pattern” has a troubled history. It was originally due to start in March 2021. It was delayed by a year. It is now suspended entirely.

British Airways Averts Heathrow Ground Staff Strike

British Airways has agreed with its trade unions a new pay deal for ground staff at London Heathrow.

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Picture of British Airways Customer Service Host on the departures concourse of London Heathrow Terminal 5. — British Airways Customer Service Host, London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has averted a strike by ground staff at London Heathrow at the start of the school holidays.

Around 1,200 BA ground staff who primarily work on check in had voted in favour of strike action in a dispute with the airline over pay.

BA has now reached a new agreement with the GMB and Unite trade unions. This will be subject to a ballot by their members. As this will come with a recommendation to accept the offer, there should be a vote in favour.

British Airways Relaunches London City – Billund

BA’s franchise partner SUN-AIR will restart flights from London City to Billund on 5 September 2022.

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SUN-AIR Dornier 328 Jet in British Airways livery (Image Credit: SUN-AIR of Scandinavia A/S)

British Airways franchise partner SUN-AIR will restart flights from London City airport to Billund on Monday 5 September 2022.

SUN-AIR is BA’s last remaining franchise partner following the collapse of Comair. It had suspended all scheduled flights due to COVID-19. The airline is operating a charter flight between Manchester, Cambridge and Gothenburg.

SUN-AIR will fly between London City and Billund up to 6 times weekly between Monday and Thursday.

British Airways Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

René de Groot is to join British Airways as Chief Operating Officer from KLM.

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Picture of René de Groot, Chief Operating Officer Designate at British Airways. — René de Groot, Chief Operating Officer Designate British Airways (Image Credit: KLM)

British Airways has appointed a new Chief Operating Officer.

René de Groot is to join BA as COO from KLM.

René, a former airline pilot, has been with KLM for 32 years and is currently COO. René will leave KLM on 15 July and join BA in October.

BA is restructuring its Operations division. Jason Mahoney, formerly COO, becomes Chief Technical Officer. BA had wanted to bring someone from outside the airline as a new COO.

British Airways’ Parent Orders More Airbus Short Haul Aircraft

BA’s parent company International Airlines Group has ordered more Airbus A320neo family aircraft.

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Picture of British Airbus A320neo aircraft, G-TTNA, in flight. — British Airways Airbus A320neo aircraft, G-TTNA (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways’ parent company International Airlines Group has ordered more Airbus A320neo family aircraft.

IAG has today, Thursday 30 June 2022, converted options from a previous order into a firm order for 11 Airbus A320neo and 3 Airbus A321neo aircraft.

This is on top of an order in March this year for 6 Airbus A320neo & 2 Airbus A321neo aircraft.

These 22 aircraft will be delivered in 2024 and 2025. IAG has not stated which airlines in the group will receive them. They will be used to replace existing Airbus A320 family aircraft.

As with existing new Airbus A320 family aircraft the configuration will be standardised to enable aircraft to be moved around the group.

British Airways Heathrow Terminal Changes

British Airways has moved a number of routes back from Heathrow Terminal 3 to 5 from Tuesday 12 July.

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London Heathrow Terminal 5 Check-In Concourse (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has moved a number of short & long haul routes back from London Heathrow Terminal 3 to 5.

The changes have been applied today, Tuesday 28 June, with effect from Tuesday 12 July 2022.

The airline had made a number of route moves between Terminals 3 & 5 at the start of the summer season in March. Many of these have now been reversed.

It is quite unusual for BA to move routes during the middle of the season and at short notice. This is possibly due to congestion at Terminal 3 and schedule cuts which enable more routes to be accommodated at Terminal 5.

To accommodate the move American Airlines and Iberia will move back to Terminal 3 on the same date.

Note that the Heathrow airport website has not yet been updated with these changes.

Readers can keep up to date with the latest moves with a dedicated guide to BA at Terminal 3.