British Airways launches four new short-haul routes

British Airways has announced the launch of four new short-haul routes from London Heathrow to European cities this summer.

The destinations include the cities of Wroclaw and Gdansk in Poland, Riga in Latvia and Cluj-Napoca (often shortened to Cluj) in Romania.

Located in western Poland, Wroclaw is described as boasting “beautiful architecture and stunning bridges and islands that cross the Odra River”, while Gdansk offers “fine museums, a dominating church building and a beautiful old city”. Meanwhile, Riga is the largest of all three Baltic capital cities, and Cluj-Napoca is among the biggest cities in Romania.

The routes will launch at the start of July and run until September 26, with all flights operated by the airline’s short-haul Airbus fleet. Flights to Wroclaw will operate twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays, while there will be three times weekly flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays to Gdansk, Riga and Cluj-Napoca.

The airline states that the flights operate on “days that work perfectly for those visiting friends and relatives for a long weekend as well as those in search of an exciting city break”.

Customers can book flights from today, with return fares starting from £83 to Wroclaw, £85 to Gdansk, £94 to Riga, and £95 to Cluj-Napoca. BA’s flexible booking policy remains active, and includes no change fees and a voucher exchange for bookings made for travel before the end of April 2022.

Up until now, the airline has never served the cities of Wroclaw and Cluj-Napoca, though it did previously operate flights to Riga in 2007, and briefly flew to Gdansk between 1999 and the early-2000s. British Airways also operates regular flights to Krakow and Warsaw in Poland, and to Bucharest in Romania.

The airline has also announced a new summer service to the Italian city of Perugia on June 28, a route that was due to start in 2022 but suffered delays due to the pandemic.

Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances, commented:

“It’s great to be launching new routes as we listen to our customers and assess where they want to travel. We know these four new destinations will be popular with people visiting friends and relatives, but they also offer great city breaks, when the time is right, with flights that head out just before the weekend and return on Sunday.”