British Airways will droop its Beijing route from London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) later this yr. Virgin Atlantic may even drop two Caribbean routes from Heathrow in early 2025.
British Airways’ Heathrow-to-Beijing route returned in June 2023 following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the choice to droop it as soon as once more comes simply 14 months later. British Airways operates the path to Beijing Daxing Worldwide Airport (PKX) 4 instances every week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. They’re at the moment the one U.Okay. service to function a direct service between Beijing and the U.Okay. The service will cease on Oct. 26, 2024.
“We will likely be pausing our path to Beijing from 26 October 2024, and we’re contacting any affected clients with rebooking choices or to supply them a full refund,” a British Airways spokesperson stated.
The suspension is anticipated to final till at the very least November 2025, when it is going to be reviewed as soon as once more. The airline will proceed working each day flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In 2022, Russia banned British airways from flying in Russian airspace, making flights to Asia considerably longer and costlier to function. British Airways is not the one U.Okay.-based airline dealing with difficulties following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Final month, Virgin Atlantic introduced it might droop its London-to-Shanghai route in October for related causes.
Elsewhere, Virgin Atlantic has additionally introduced plans to halt its Heathrow providers to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; and Nassau, Bahamas.
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The Turks and Caicos service will likely be minimize on Feb. 21, 2025, and Nassau service will finish on Feb. 23.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson stated they’re hoping to additional optimize their community by ending service to Providenciales and Nassau.
“We have made the choice to extend our frequencies to Antigua, Barbados and Cape City subsequent yr and to sadly droop operations to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos,” the spokesperson stated. “We’re very sorry for the frustration brought about to our clients flying to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, and anybody booked to journey on these routes from 24 February and 22 February, respectively, will likely be contacted with their choices.”
Virgin clients affected by the incident are anticipated to be provided a full refund or various flights with a special service.
The airline’s Antigua service will enhance to 4 flights per week for the winter journey season and can run till April 30. Barbados service may have three flights added — for a complete of 10 flights per week. Virgin’s seasonal path to Cape City will likely be prolonged by an extra month and conclude on April 30.
Backside line
Fourteen months after reviving its direct flight service from London to Beijing, British Airways determined to chop the route as soon as once more resulting from how troublesome and expensive it’s to function following the 2022 ban of U.Okay. carriers from Russian airspace.
In different information, Virgin Atlantic has dropped its flights from Heathrow to Turks and Caicos and Nassau to optimize its providers and enhance flight frequency to different locations.
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