British Airways puts even more capacity on US routes

LONDON - Fierce competition with Chinese carrier has British Airways suspend its London-Beijing route through 2025. The airline will deploy even more capacity on transatlantic routes next year and trial new destinations in its international network including Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur.

British Airways will operate "a record number of flights" from London to the US, Canada and Mexico in Summer 2025, offering more than 400 direct flights per week during its peak weeks, including 26 US cities.

The UK flag carrier already operates more flights across the pond than any other European carrier. Transatlantic route updates for summer 2025 include doubling frequencies to Miami to 14 flights per week year-round and an extra six flights per week to Austin, pushing the Texas link to 13 flights per week.

British Airways will also increase services to Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C. and Vancouver.

"The US remains a priority market for us, and we know these network changes will be welcomed by both our business and leisure customers, providing more options than ever before to travel between the UK and the USA," British Airways Chief Planning and Strategy Officer Neil Chernoff said.

Elsewhere on British Airways’ global route network, a third daily flight to Delhi has been added for Summer 2025, bringing the total number of flights to India to 63 per week across five destinations.

Eastern challange

"New services to Kuala Lumpur and Jeddah, both launching in November 2024, will continue into the summer 2025 season, along with frequency growth in Riyadh," British Airways said.

British Airways will put its London-Beijing route on hold for a year from late October. Other airlines, including Lufthansa, also mull service reductions on China routes citing commercial challanges due to Russia overflight bans and fierce competition with Chinese carriers.