British Airways adds capacity by the planeload to summer sun destinations

British Airways is is planning to expand capacity on its short-haul network, with the airline adding over 93,000 seats for the summer.

British Airways Airbus A320 at London Heathrow Terminal 3 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond 

The airline has added new services to holiday destinations for June and July onwards, saying the new services are in response to overwhelming interest from its customers on its website.

The 26 additional weekly frequencies will include destinations across Greece, the Canary Islands and Turkey to popular holiday hot spots including Corfu, Kos, Paphos, Rhodes, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Bodrum.

The newly established flights to Greece and the Canary Islands will be available to book from Tuesday 11th May for travel between 21st June and 5th September over the peak summer period. Bodrum in Turkey will also be available to fly to from 18th July.

Let us break down what the airline is adding in terms of capacity:

Additional Summer 2021 Frequencies added:

• Heathrow – Lanzarote (ACE) 1 extra flight a week, from 5 flight per week to 6
• Heathrow – Bodrum (BJV) 2 extra flights a week, from 1 flight per week to 3
• Heathrow – Corfu (CFU) 3 extra flights a week, from 14 flights per week to 17
• Heathrow – Chania (CHQ) 3 extra flights a week, from 6 flights per week to 9
• Heathrow – Kefalonia (EFL) 2 extra flights a week, from 3 flights per week to 5
• Heathrow – Heraklion (HER) 1 extra flight a week, from 9 flights per week to 10
• Heathrow – Kos (KGS) 2 extra flights a week, from 4 flights per week to 6
• Heathrow – Kalamata (KLX) 2 extra flights a week, from 3 flights per week to 5
• Heathrow – Paphos (PFO) 1 extra flight a week, from 7 flights per week to 8
• Heathrow – Preveza (PVK) 2 extra flights a week, from 4flights per week to 6
• Heathrow – Rhodes (RHO) 2 extra flights a week, from 5 flights per week to 7
• Heathrow – Thessaloniki (SKG) 3 extra flights a week, from 9 flights per week to 12
• Heathrow – Tenerife (TFS) + 2 extra flights a week, from 13 flights per week to 15

Lead-in prices have been offered – these as usual are one way, with hand baggage only.  Samples include:

• Heathrow to Lanzarote from £49
• Heathrow to Corfu from £99
• Heathrow to Chania from £99
• Heathrow to Rhodes from £79

In Quotes

Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Networks and Alliances said:

“It’s clear Britons are hoping that their favourite destinations will be open by the time summer comes. We want to provide them with access to book seats to the places they love to help them get away, and trust that if they can’t travel, we will be there for them with incredible flexibility to make changes to their bookings.”

You will still need to follow government guidance

When travelling, it will be a requirement that you have to follow the guidance in terms of testing, quarantine, and entry regulations. Currently, most of these destinations are on the Amber list, whilst Turkey is on Red List currently.

You may have to quarantine on your return to the United Kingdom too if a country is on the amber or red list.

Hopefully, the status of some of these countries will change when the Transport Minster completes his update in three weeks…

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