British Airways has outlined plans to ramp up its services between the US and London Heathrow this month, following the decision by the UK government to remove quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travellers arriving from the EU and US.
Frequencies will increase as follows:
- Flights from New York JFK to Heathrow increasing to 21 per week (up from 17 per week) from August 16
- Flights from Los Angeles and Chicago to Heathrow increasing to 10 per week (up from 7 per week) from August 16
- Flights from Seattle to Heathrow increasing to seven per week (up from 4 per week) from August 23
- Flights from Los Angeles to Heathrow further increasing to 14 per week from August 23
The carrier said that it intends to “continue to broaden its schedule between the USA and UK throughout September”.
The news follows the reopening of BA’s New York JFK Terminal 7 lounge at the weekend, following a 16-month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline said that new bookings from the US had “surged” by 95 per cent in the hours following the government’s announcement.
BA is also adding frequencies from London to cities including Berlin, Geneva and Hamburg, and said that “the schedules will be continually reviewed to ensure the number of seats available matches customer interest”.
Commenting on the news 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.
“We will support our customers as we emerge from this crisis and hope for crucial travel corridors to be established to allow reciprocal agreements. This will allow UK nationals to travel as the UK’s Covid cases fall and vaccination rates continue to rise.”
