British Airways adds more flights between EU, US and UK
UK airline British Airways (BA) is adding extra seats on key routes to the UK from the USA and EU, following the UK Government lifting quarantine restrictions for fullyvaccinated US and EU travellers
Within a couple of hours after the announcement, BA saw bookings from the US surging by 95 per cent, mainly from New York and Los Angeles in the USA, and European cities such as Berlin, Geneva and Hamburg.
Flights between New York-JFK and London Heathrow will increase to 21 services per week (up from 17 per week), Los Angeles and Chicago will increase to 10 per week (up from seven per week), starting from 16 August 2021. From 23 August, flights between Seattle and London Heathrow will increase to seven services per week (up from four per week), and Los Angeles will further increase to 14 per week. BA also plans to continue to broaden its schedule between the USA and UK throughout September.
Additional flights will also be added from European cities such as Berlin, Geneva and Hamburg, and the schedules will be continually reviewed to ensure the number of seats available matches customer interest.
Industry ready to adapt
The news comes after a successful trial was conducted between BA, Heathrow Airport and Virgin Atlantic, which showed that the Government’s amber policy for fully vaccinated travellers could be rapidly expanded for US and EU citizens. As part of the 10-day trial, fully vaccinated customers on selected flights from Los Angeles, New York, Montego Bay and Athens agreed to share their vaccination status at their departure airport, showing the industry is ready to rapidly adapt and operationalise further vaccination checks, to support a safe reopening of the skies at scale.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming new visitors from the US and EU to the UK from next week, many of which will be reuniting with their family members for the first time in many months. This move will also help boost the British economy and the hospitality sector, which like aviation, has been crippled by the effects of the pandemic.”
BA has partnerships with a range of testing providers and has teamed up with mobile travel health app VeriFly to make customers’ journeys through the airport as smooth as possible.