Salzburg Landscape (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has launched a new winter seasonal route from London City and Southampton airports to Salzburg.
Flights from London City launch on Friday 10 December 2021. They will initially operate twice weekly, before reducing to Saturdays only from 19 March 2022. The route is due to end Saturday 16 April 2022.
A weekly service from Southampton also launches on Saturday 11 December 2021 and will end at the same time as the London City route.
This will complement BA’s existing winter seasonal service to Salzburg from London Heathrow which is also due to resume on Friday 10 December 2021. Passengers can combine departure and arrival airports, if appropriate.
British Airways has once again extended the suspension almost all short haul flights at London Gatwick airport.It plans to restart flights in March 2022, operated by a new subsidiary airline.
The vast majority of Gatwick short haul routes have transferred to London Heathrow for the winter 2021 season. This runs from Sunday 31 October 2021 to Saturday 26 March 2022.
The only short haul routes expected to operate at Gatwick over the winter season include Amsterdam, Glasgow and Manchester. The airline will continue to run a limited network of long haul flights at the airport. All BA flights at Gatwick continue to operate from the North Terminal.
This was expected as BA should be able to cancel flights at Gatwick over the winter season without forfeiting its airport slots.
This means the airline will go two years without operating a significant schedule of short haul flights at Gatwick.
Further changes to BA’s short haul route network and schedules from all UK airports are likely over the winter season. This is due to continued uncertainty over both COVID-19 related travel restrictions and the level of demand for business and leisure travel.
British Airways Collage August 2021 (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways plans to reinstate a number of temporarily suspendedlong and short haul routes, principally at London Heathrow.
These will return from late August to early September. As ever in the current climate, the details given below are indicative and subject to change at short notice. There remains limited visibility on flight schedules.
You can keep up to date on all BA route network changes with our dedicated pages for its long haul and short haul network.
London Heathrow Long Haul
Whilst inbound travel restrictions to the US remain in place, BA is reinstating passenger flights on some transatlantic routes.
Flights from London Heathrow are scheduled to resume to Atlanta on Monday 30 August, Phoenix on Tuesday 31 August and Denver on Wednesday 1 September.
Existing transatlantic routes benefit from capacity increases. San Francisco and Seattle are now operating daily. Boston increases to twice daily from Friday 27. Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco and Washington Dulles increase to twice daily from Monday 30 August. New York JFK increases to four times daily from Monday 30 August.
The return of many other routes is likely to be dependent on the lifting of travel restrictions.
In Canada, BA is provisionally due to return to Vancouver on Tuesday 7 September and Montreal on Wednesday 8 September. Toronto Pearson also increases to twice daily from Friday 27 August.
To Africa and the Indian Ocean, flights to Nairobi are provisionally due to return on Saturday 4 September and Male on Friday 10 September.
London Heathrow Short Haul
A number of short-haul routes are due to return at Heathrow over the next two weeks:
Monday 23 August: Bologna, Frankfurt, Krakow Wednesday 25 August: Budapest Friday 27 August: Bilbao, Oslo Saturday 28 August: Gran Canaria
Old Street Kramarska, Gdansk near the Long Market, Poland
British Airways has launched four new summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Gdansk and Wroclaw, Poland; and Riga, Latvia.
Flights to Cluj-Napoca (Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport), Gdansk (Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport) and Riga (Riga International Airport) will operate three times weekly on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from Friday 2 July to Sunday 26 September 2021.
Flights to Wroclaw will operate twice weekly on Thursday and Sunday from Thursday 1 July to Sunday 26 September 2021.
It is not unusual to see BA launch new summer seasonal routes at Heathrow, but this choice of routes suggests a greater focus on Visiting Friends & Relatives traffic, rather than leisure.
Further route launches are likely when there is clarity on the lifting of travel restrictions from England in May.
At present, all flights are planned to operate from London Heathrow Terminal 3, but this is subject to the terminal reopening and BA restarting operations there.
As these are new summer seasonal routes, the operating dates and frequencies may change depending on their commercial performance.
It goes without saying that the operation of these routes is subject to travel restrictions and passengers must comply will all pre-departure and arrival requirements.
British Airways has extended the transfer of all London Gatwick short haul flights to London Heathrow Airport up to Saturday 30 October 2021.
BA transferred all Gatwick short haul routes to London Heathrow in April 2020. This was initially a temporary move. It has been extended many times. The last plan was for short haul flights to resume in July.
The latest extension in no doubt influenced by the UK government’s plans to reopen international travel, which means a near normal summer travel season without restrictions is looking less likely. It does not bode well for BA’s long term presence at Gatwick.
At present, BA is operating a limited number of long haul flights at Gatwick to Antigua, Cancun and St Lucia. A number of flights to Antigua and St Lucia are expected to operate at Heathrow in the summer. BA is also due to transfer flights to Accra, Doha and Islamabad to Gatwick on 31 October 2021.
At the time of publication the latest extension is not reflected in online timetables but these should be updated shortly.
Passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
BA CityFlyer Embraer Aircraft (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has launched two new summer seasonal routes from London City airport.
BA will fly from London City to Gibraltar and Jersey twice weekly on Mondays & Fridays from 25 June 2021. Fights are due to operate until late September.
Whilst frequencies are relatively limited they can be mixed with BA flights to other London airports. Jersey is ordinarily served by BA from Gatwick but is currently operated from Heathrow, along with Gibraltar.
As these are new seasonal routes the operating dates and frequencies may be changed at short notice depending on commercial demand.
At present, BA is operating an extremely limited scheduled from London City to Belfast, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt. The resumption of other year-round and seasonal routes is subject to commercial demand and travel restrictions.
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 Wing Tip (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has extended the use of “eVouchers” for travel up to and including 30 April 2023.
Passengers who had booked to fly with BA and did not wish to travel have been issued with “eVouchers” which can be used online to pay for future flight bookings.
Until today, 28 January 2021, eVouchers could only be used for flight bookings that had been fully completed by 30 April 2022.
In a sign that there is limited prospect of international travel returning to normal until well into 2022, this deadline has been extended to 30 April 2023. This applies to all eVouchers. Any existing eVouchers issued with a previous deadline of 30 April 2022 are automatically extended.
It should be emphasised that this is the deadline for travel to be completed, not for bookings to be made.
The deadline for the use “Future Travel Vouchers” which were issued in the early stages of the pandemic has also been extended to 30 April 2023.
This follows a decision by the airline to remove the expiry date of its “Book With Confidence” policy, whereby change fees are waived for all new flight bookings with also the option to convert the value of their ticket into an eVoucher.
Detailed guidance on the use of eVouchers is available on ba.com
British Airways has extended the transfer of most Gatwick short haul flights to London Heathrow until Wednesday 30 June 2021 at the earliest.
BA temporarily transferred all Gatwick short haul routes to London Heathrow in April last year.
This will continue until 30 June 2021, with the exception of flights to Glasgow which will start at Gatwick on Thursday 24 June 2021.
Another delay is not surprising given there is very little chance of travel restrictions in Europe being relaxed in the coming months. If restrictions continue throughout the summer and a waiver is issued which allows BA to cancel flights without forfeiting slots, it is likely to be extended.
At present, BA is operating a limited number of long haul flights at Gatwick to Antigua, Bermuda, Cancun and St Lucia.
Passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
Update March 2021
BA has delayed the start of Manchester flights at Gatwick until Sunday 31 October 2021. Flights to Accra and Islamabad will also continue to operate at London Heathrow throughout the summer season.
British Airways, Short Haul Economy Speedbird Cafe, January 2021 (Image Credit: British Airways)
When British Airways introduced buy on board catering to short haul flights in 2017 then CEO Alex Cruz was convinced that it was only a matter of time before its network rivals followed suit.
Four years and a global pandemic later, events have taken an interesting turn.
Whilst Lufthansa is introducing buy on board across its airlines from March 2021, BA has pulled a minor volte face.
Since COVID-19, BA has offered a limited service in short haul economy of complimentary water and a light snack, with no buy on board to limit passenger / crew interaction.
This is now permanent. From Wednesday 20 January 2021, buy on board will be replaced with a fully pre paid service known as “Speedbird Cafe”.
BA will no longer sell M&S branded products. It will continue to offer a range of soft and alcoholic drinks, ambient snacks, as well as some sandwiches designed for the airline by Tom Kerridge. Worry not, the infamous Afternoon Tea box is still available.
Air New Zealand, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Braniff International (aided by deregulation of the US market) and Virgin Atlantic all launched their first services from London with the Boeing 747.
As you can see from Air New Zealand advert below it, as many airlines did, likened the Boeing 747 to a flying hotel.
Air New Zealand, Boeing 747 London Gatwick – Auckland, August 1982Avianca, Boeing 747 London Gatwick – Bogota, via Madrid & Barranquilla, May 1978Braniff International, London Gatwick – Dallas / Fort Worth, February 1978Continue reading “How The Boeing 747 Transformed Flying From London”
