Article from the Pittsburgh Business Times:
https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...vice-from.html
British Airways will begin four-times-a-week service to London’s Heathrow Airport starting in April, the first regular airline service between the two cities in nearly two decades.
The year-round service on BA’s Boeing 787 twin-engine jet will begin on April 2.
The announcement was made during a Wednesday morning news conference with Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO
Christina Cassotis.
The destination joins three others to Europe, including Delta Air Lines’ nearly 10-year-old seasonal Paris-to-Pittsburgh route plus two newer routes: to Iceland via budget carrier Wowair and to Germany via Condor Airlines.
It's been a long time since Pittsburgh and London were connected with nonstop service. British Airways flew daily nonstop from Pittsburgh International Airport to London-Gatwick between 1985 and October 1999,
but canceled it due to economic reasons.
London-Gatwick was picked up by US Airways in July 2000. The US Airways service to London’s Gatwick ended in 2004.
But nonstop service to London has been highly sought after but elusive.
There was a high level of secrecy leading up to the announcement. A notice of the news conference was sent late Tuesday evening, and an airport spokesman Tuesday night declined comment about the details.
Even some participants didn’t know what it was about. The River City Brass Band set up and played about 40 minutes before the news conference, but the quintet said they were just told to be there to play and there were no clues on what the airline or destination was based on the music.