BA to operate more American flights

British Airways today announced an expansion of its American flights to take advantage of next spring’s transatlantic “open skies” policy.

But BA is dropping its Heathrow to Detroit service and also scrapping direct services to the Zimbabwean capital Harare.

From March 30 next year, BA will be moving its Dallas Fort Worth and Houston services from Gatwick to Heathrow and increasing frequencies from Heathrow to New York, Seattle and Washington DC as well as those from Gatwick to Orlando.

To accommodate these changes, the airline is suspending flights between Heathrow and Detroit from March 30 next year.

On the same day flights to Algiers that currently operate from Gatwick will move to Heathrow, while flights to Warsaw in Poland will move from Heathrow to Gatwick.

In addition, there will be a new short-haul route from Gatwick to Genoa in Italy starting on April 4 next year with daily flights.

BA also said that from October 28, passengers travelling from Heathrow to Harare with BA will be routed via Johannesburg and then on to Harare with BA’s franchise partner Comair. Direct services to Harare from Heathrow will be suspended from the same date.

The open skies deal agreed between the USA and Europe will, from the end of March next year, see more flights allowed across the Atlantic and more carriers able to use Heathrow for these flights.

BA commercial director Robert Boyle said: “We’re taking advantage of the opportunities provided by open skies to further enhance our market leading network from London to the United States. Next summer, we will offer our customers 41 daily flights to 18 destinations across the US.”

Meanwhile, Ryanair today announced that it was starting daily services between Cork and East Midlands airport and between Cork and Glasgow from December 13.