British Airways to fly B787-9 daily to Silicon Valley

British Airways will launch a direct B787-9 Dreamliner service between London Heathrow and San Jose, California next summer. The daily route commences on May 4 and will connect London with Silicon Valley, home to technology giants including Apple, eBay and Google. Flights BA278/279 will be the only service between Europe and San Jose, BA said. Outbound service BA279 will depart LHR at 1515 and arrive in San Jose at 1805. Return leg BA278 will leave San Jose at 2000 and land in London at 1405 the next day. BA's forthcoming B787-9 will be configured in four classes with eight seats in First, 42 in Club World (business), 39 in World Traveller Plus (premium economy), and 127 in World Traveller (economy). Last week, the carrier revealed that its B787-9 World Traveller seat will offer an extra half-inch of width (see news, August 21). Stephen Humphreys, BA's head of global sales, said: "Our new daily service will offer fantastic direct flights between Silicon Valley and London, with onward connections to scores of destinations around the globe on our extensive world-wide network. "We're sure this new service will prove just the business for Californian-based companies looking to expand into Europe and will strengthen London's strong commercial ties with the West Coast." BA operates daily A380s to Los Angeles and San Francisco. In October, the airline will fly its first B787-9 Dreamliner to Delhi (see news, July 13). ba.com Graham Smith