For fans of the Airbus A380, British Airways is bringing back the double-decker giant to the skies.
The airline will conduct flights in Europe first to allow for crew service familiarisation in November, shortly followed by operating to Miami and Los Angeles in the US, as well as Dubai in December.
In terms of the familiarisation trips, Frankfurt and Madrid have been mooted.
In the first instance, four of the fleet of 12 will return.
North America Network
With the A380 rejoining the fleet, British Airways will be increasing the number of flights it operates with services to city destinations including:
- New York, which will initially be increasing to five flights a day, followed by eight in December.
- Boston – Double Daily
- Chicago – Double Daily
- Los Angeles – Double Daily
- San Francisco – Double Daily
- Washington Dulles – Double Daily
- Dallas – Double Daily
- Toronto – Double Daily
- Philadelphia – Daily
- Phoenix – Daily
- Seattle – Daily
- Atlanta – Daily
- Denver – Daily
- Houston Intercontinental – Daily
- Vancouver – – Daily
In addition to frequency increases, in October and November, British Airways will restart services to Austin, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, Las Vegas and Baltimore
In December the airline will also start flying to Nashville and New Orleans once again.
Route dates for the US Network are subject to the formal opening of their borders – a date in November “To be determined” by the US Government.
European Network
The airline will also add 13,000 seats for sale on short-haul flights too in time for the October Holidays. Marrakech and Dalaman will appear on flight schedules again in time for the October half-term, and brand-new services to the Turkish resort of Antalya will also be launching.
Winter destinations will also reappear, with Innsbruck, Grenoble and Salzburg flying from December.
British Airways will be increasing flights year-round to key European cities with 48 weekly services to Amsterdam, 33 to Geneva, 35 to Dublin, 28 to Milan and 21 to Berlin, Paris and Rome.
The Caribbean and the Indian Ocean
British Airways is extending its Caribbean programme with 12 services a week to Barbados and nine each to Antigua and St Lucia, which will be split across Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
Flights to Indian Ocean destinations, Maldives and Mauritius, will also be increasing to 10 and six per week over the Christmas period.
In Quotes
Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances, said:
“This is an exciting time for British Airways and our customers as we see borders re-opening. With welcome news from the US, we are dramatically increasing flights and bringing home some of our A380s to give our customers as many options as possible. Elsewhere across our network we are also adding additional services to destinations all over the world, to ensure our customers can take advantage of a much-needed holiday.”
Welcome back WhaleJet
It seems with passengers returning, British Airways are happy to bring back the double-decker aircraft to its fleet. Whilst some airlines in the pandemic have shed the type (Lufthansa and Air France to name two), others are bringing it back (including Qatar Airways it seems).
Whilst it might not have the newest passenger experience (namely Club Suite), it will have one of the better experiences in the air. Especially if you’re on the upper deck of an A380 (and ideally -by a window – the side bin storage is amazing).
Normality may be some time away, but it’s good to see the WhaleJet return to its natural home – the skies.
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DN: SL13-10