Barcelona at Sunrise (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
British Airways is to return to Barcelona at London City Airport with the relaunch of a new summer seasonal route.
BA’s subsidiary BA CityFlyer will fly from London City to Barcelona six times weekly, with no flights on Saturday, from Sunday 19 June to Sunday 4 September 2022.
This is one of many BA route changes at London City this summer.
A new route to Luxembourg will launch at the start of the summer season on Sunday 27 March 2022. Flights will operate up to twice daily.
At present, BA’s existing service from London Heathrow to Luxembourg will continue. As London City & Heathrow flight times are similar, this suggests that the route may transfer from Heathrow.
Also from Sunday 27 March, flights to Milan will transfer from Milan Linate to Milan Malpensa airport. These have been suspended since COVID-19.
BA CityFlyer will also launch a new weekly service to Thessaloniki from Saturday 18 June to Sunday 4 September.
Twice weekly summer seasonal flights launched in 2021 to Guernsey and Jersey will return between Monday 20 June and Friday 2 September. Flights to Gibraltar will not return this year.
A new route to San Sebastian should also launch on Friday 8 July, after a delay of two years.
Barcelona at Sunrise (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
British Airways is moving a number of short-haul routes between London Gatwick and Heathrow airports from late March 2019.
In addition, a number of routes that operate from both Gatwick and Heathrow will be “consolidated” at one airport.
No specific reasons have been given for the changes but it is likely to be due to a combination of commercial performance and operational requirements.
At the time of writing, it appears that not all online timetables have not been fully updated so it may be some time before changes show in the Manage My Booking tool.
Almeria
This route launched as a twice weekly summer seasonal route from Heathrow this year. It operated under flight numbers BA420 and BA421.
It will return next year from Gatwick between Sunday 31 March and Saturday 26 October 2019. Flights will operate four times weekly on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The new flight numbers are BA2790 and BA2791.
Barcelona
This route will be suspended at London Gatwick from 31 March 2019. It currently operates from Gatwick up to three times daily.
BA will increase existing services to Barcelona from London Heathrow Terminal 3 from 49 to 58 flights a week to partially compensate.
BA will continue to codeshare with Vueling on London Gatwick to Barcelona.
Bilbao
This route currently operates from London Heathrow Terminal 3 year-round. It operates under flight numbers BA466, BA467, BA468 and BA469.
From 31 March 2019, it will operate from Gatwick on a summer seasonal basis to 26 October 2019. Flights will operate 12 times weekly. The new flight numbers are BA2684, BA2685, BA2686 and BA2687.
Menorca (Mahon)
This route operated as a summer seasonal route both from Gatwick and Heathrow this year. It launched at Gatwick this year and Heathrow from April 2016.
It will return next year from Gatwick only from Saturday 27 April and Saturday 28 September 2019. Flights will operate six times weekly.
Pisa
This route will be suspended at London Gatwick from 31 March 2019. It operates under flight numbers BA2600, BA2601, BA2602 and BA2603.
BA will increase existing services from London Heathrow from 11 to 18 flights a week to compensate. The route will also transfer from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Terminal 3.
Valencia
This route has operated from Gatwick since November 2015. It operates under flight numbers BA2794 and BA2795.
It will transfer to London Heathrow from 31 March 2019. Flights will operate 9 times weekly. The new flight numbers are BA408, BA409, BA422 and BA445.
After months of speculation, International Airlines Group (“IAG”) which is the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, has today confirmed is to launch a new low cost long-haul airline.
The airline is called “Level”. This is the first new airline launched by IAG in its six year history.
The airline will initially be based in Barcelona. It will launch on 1 June 2017 and its inaugural route will be Barcelona – Los Angeles which operate twice weekly.
Routes from Barcelona to Oakland California (three times weekly) will follow on 2 June 2017. Barcelona – Punta Cana (twice weeky) on 10 June 2017. Barcelona – Buenos Aires on 17 June 2017 (three times weekly).
The airline will intially operate with two brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 239 seats in economy in a 2-4-2 configuration and 21 seats across three rows in premium economy in a 2-3-2 configuration.
In economy a seat pitch of 30″ will be offered with a 9″ personal entertainment screen. Checked baggage, extra leg room seats and hot meals can be purchased in advance. Food and drink, duty free goods, in flight comfort amenities such as blankets and pillows can be purchased on board.
In premium economy, a seat pitch of 37″ will be offered with a 12″ personal entertainment screen and noise-cancelling headphones.
Checked luggage (in addition to a free cabin bag), hot meals drinks and snacks, priority boarding, and in flight entertainment will be complimentary for customers flying in premium economy.
High speed internet connectivity will also be available for a charge for all passengers.
The availability of refunds and flight changes and seat selection will depend on the type of fare purchase in both cabins.
IAG promises one way fares economy from €99 and one way premium economy fares from €599.
Connections will be available from Vueling’s short-haul network at Barcelona which, of course, operates from London Gatwick and Heathrow and a number of UK regional airports. However, flights with connections need to be booked via Iberia.com
Members of the Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn Avios on all flights operated by Level.
The launch of Level is a clear competitive response by IAG to Norwegian which is launching new routes from a number of IAG markets in Europe. We have already seen a number of moves such as the launch by BA of routes from Gatwick to New York JFK, Fort Lauderdale and Oakland. BA is also planning to “densify” (that’s add more seats) some of its Boeing 777s to compete against Norwegian. We are likely to see further moves such as the launch of “unbundled” long-haul economy fares by Aer Lingus and BA.
As IAG have adopted a trans-national brand name, the airline will no doubt explore more routes from other European cities where connections from Vueling are available, such as Rome and Paris. Looking at the branding and marketing materials, IAG is actively pitching this airline at a younger market than many of its existing airlines. It will of course be interesting to see how this develops and whether it launches any routes from the UK.
Barcelona at Sunrise (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
British Airways has confirmed that all of its flights from London Heathrow to Barcelona (up to 8 a day) will move from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 from Sunday 24 October 2014.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has confirmed changes to its London Heathrow short-haul timetable for the Winter 2013 season, which starts at the end of October.
The changes are relatively modest and mainly concern small increases and decreases in frequencies on certain routes.
Frequency Increases
– Agadir increases from two flights a week to three.
– Basel increases from 21 to 26 flights a week.
– Amsterdam, Athens, Hamburg and Nice also benefit from small increases of 1-2 flights a week.
Frequency Decreases
– Flights to Manchester reduce from 72 to 68 a week.
– Prague also reduces by five flights from 33 to 28 flights a week.
– Aberdeen, Barcelona, Budapest, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gualle, Rome, Stockholm and Zurich also reduce by 1-3 flights a week.
The daily flight to Larnaca also reverts back from a night-time departure to a day-time departure from London Heathrow, with the flight from Heathrow leaving at 12:05 and returning to Heathrow at 19:40.
There are also timetable changes to Rotterdam with BA’s three daily flights moved to earlier times. There are also relatively modest changes to timings for BA’s twice daily flights to Bergen and Stavanger.
Summer Seasonal Flights
BA’s weekly summer Saturday flights from London Heathrow to Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca also finish on Saturday 26 October 2013. The airline will continue to fly all year round to Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca from London City airport.
