It seems British Airways is making its Cityflyer Embraer aircraft work a bit harder for the winter season, with the announcement of new routes by the airline.
British Airways Embraer E190 at Birmingham Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The following routes will be extended into the winter season
- Belfast – Exeter
- Belfast – Glasgow
- Belfast – Leeds
Planned operation for these routes is as follows
| Route | Departure and arrival time | Schedule | Flight No | Route | Departure time | Schedule | Flight No |
| BHD – GLA | 09.40 – 10.20 | Monday – Sunday | BA7327 | GLA – BHD | 10.55 – 11.40 | Monday – Sunday | BA7326 |
| BHD – GLA | 19.10 – 19.50 | Monday – Friday and Sunday | BA7331 | GLA – BHD | 20.25 – 21.10 | Monday – Friday and Sunday | BA7330 |
| Route | Departure and arrival time | Schedule | Flight No | Route | Departure time | Schedule | Flight No |
| BHD – LBA | 06.40 – 07.35 | Monday to Friday | BA7313 | LBA – BHD | 08.10 – 09.05 | Monday to Friday | BA7312 |
| BHD – LBA | 12.20 – 13.15 | Saturday | BA7313 | LBA – BHD | 13.50 – 14.45 | Saturday | BA7312 |
| BHD – LBA | 16.05 – 17.00 | Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7317 | LBA – BHD | 17.35 – 18.30 | Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7316 |
Flights from Belfast to Exeter, Glasgow and Leeds will increase compared to the Summer season at 4, 13 and 10 a week respectively.
In addition, Belfast – Birmingham will be opened as a new route
Flights between Belfast and Birmingham will operate twice daily, increasing to three times a day on Thursday and Friday.
| Route | Departure and arrival time | Schedule | Flight No | Route | Departure time | Schedule | Flight No |
| BHD – BHX | 06.50 – 07.55 | Monday to Friday | BA7321 | BHX – BHD | 08.30 – 09.35 | Monday to Friday | BA7320 |
| BHD – BHX | 10.10 – 11.15 | Monday and Saturday | BA7323 | BHX – BHD | 11.50 – 12.55 | Monday and Saturday | BA7323 |
| BHD – BHX | 14.45 – 15.50 | Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7323 | BHX – BHD | 16.25 – 17.30 | Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7323 |
| BHD – BHX | 15.50 – 16.55 | Tuesday and Wednesday | BA7323 | BHX – BHD | 17.30 – 18.35 | Tuesday and Wednesday | BA7323 |
| BHD – BHX | 18.10 – 19.15 | Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7325 | BHX – BHD | 19.50 – 20.55 | Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday | BA7324 |
Bookings on the routes above open between 31 October 2021 and 26 March 2022.
All routes are operated by BA CityFlyer – who use Embraer E190 aircraft on these routes
Off to Saltzburg
British Airways is also expanding its operation to Salzburg for the winter, operating from London City and Southampton.
Flights operate twice a week from London City, on Friday and Saturday from 10 December 2021, and once a week from Southampton, on Saturday from 11 December 2021. Return fares start from £109 from London City and £75 from Southampton.
Planned operation is as below
| Route | Departure and arrival time | Schedule | Flight No | Route | Departure time | Schedule | Flight No |
| LCY – SZG | 07.05 – 09.00 | Friday and Saturday | BA8479 | SZG – LCY | 10.50 – 11.45 | Friday and Saturday | BA8480 |
| Route | Departure and arrival time | Schedule | Flight No | Route | Departure time | Schedule | Flight No |
| SOU – SZG | 13.00 – 15.00 | Saturday | BA2829 | SZG – SOU | 16.50 – 17.50 | Saturday | BA2930 |
Again, these will utilise an Embraer E190 on these routes
In Quotes
Tom Stoddart, Managing Director of BA CityFlyer which operates the routes, said:
“This year has shown how much customers want to stay connected with the rest of the UK. We’re responding to the customer demand we saw over the last few months by extending some of our newest UK routes from Belfast City Airport.
Katy Best, Commercial Director at Belfast City Airport, added:
“British Airways has a longstanding presence at Belfast City Airport, and its introduction of regional services earlier this year has been strongly welcomed by our passengers who know and enjoy the excellent BA product.
“This latest increase in frequency is superb news for those who want to plan ahead and book winter staycations or weekend breaks in Birmingham, Exeter, Glasgow or Leeds. The convenient flight times will also be attractive to business travellers who avail of can same day returns.”
Continuing to fill in those FlyBe shaped gaps
The impact of FlyBe going can still be felt today, as people seek to reconnect – either for business or leisure reasons. With British Airways stepping in to help and add capacity, it will give further options for those who need to travel, with domestic travel still being an important part of the travel jigsaw.
The addition of a winter skiing option is also welcome to see – and seeing it beyond the traditional London confines is even more welcome.
It will be interesting to see how these services progress in Summer 2022 – I suspect that Emerald Airlines might be in play at this point, and able to take the strain from that point onwards.
But for now, domestic tier point options have opened up… it might be time for those of us in the regions to take advantage.
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