COVID-19 BA Suspended Routes, Changes in The BA Network, Speculation & Discussion
 

Dear Folks,

As BAeuro suggested, I am opening this thread where we could list all destinations that are permanently suspended by BA, make speculations about future cancellable routes, discuss options about alternative routings to these destinations and more.

So far we have these permanent and temporary suspensions on the BA network

Terminated Routes

​​​​​​Heathrow - Beirut
Heathrow - Helsinki - Specific thread
Heathrow - Leeds Bradford - Specific thread
Heathrow - Moscow SVO - Specific thread

Temporary Suspensions for a short while

Heathrow - Buenos Aires ( until 1 Sep 2020 )

Temporary Suspensions for S20

Heathrow - Calgary
Heathrow - Charleston - Specific thread
Heathrow - Montpellier
Heathrow - Podgorica

Route Inaugural Delayed

Heathrow - Portland ( to 2 Sep 2020 ) - Specific thread

Also for long-haul route, speculations please refer to this thread where you could find information about the frequency reductions, the possibility wheater if a route would be operating at some point, etc...: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...er-2020-a.html

Thanks ISTFlyer

I know we’ve both made route news threads before and it’s just better to have one main one instead of annoying people like me setting a new one up each time :p

So I’ve just worked out, this coming winter there will only be 2 destinations with MidHaul A321s (DME & AMM).

DME is twice daily but both can easily be served by the same aircraft and AMM is daily. So they will only need 2 frames, is this a sustainable subfleet or time to say goodbye...

I'm not sure but they might have tried to phase out those mid-haul A321's.
We had reports here in FlyerTalk that some BEY and some AMM flights had last minute aircraft changes from ex-BMI A321's to A321neo's.

However, this might not be likely as we still have 787-9 service scheduled to DME next April.

The a/c changes were due to maintenance I think and were announced well in advance.

There are a lot of daily flights being dropped and therefore quite a lot of free slots at LHR. I guess they will try and fit in some LGW routes like Bermuda/Antigua/Barbados so to compete with Virgin.

Indeed yes, I have a strong prediction that some LGW routes would be transferred to LHR, and IAG would use LGW slots under the Vueling, LEVEL, or another low-cost brand.

One mid haul A321 flys to TLV as BA163/2 in the summer. It is restarting on the 1st of July. Will be interesting to see what they do with the other mid hauls. Maybe they can make TLV three times a day in the winter.

From what I can see, Antalya has no cheaper fares for the rest of this year. They’re all in K class at the same price. Could this hint at it being removed?

As resort hotels in Antalya are opening next week for ( domestic ) tourists and opening to international tourists on 15 June; it might also be tour agencies who've bought bulk tickets to sell with their package holidays.

Our minister of Culture & Tourism is very confident that there would be many international tourists preferring to go on vacation to Antalya this summer.

However, as you mentioned, it might also be BA who've zeroed out the cheaper fares as they might have seen LGW-Antalya not profitable for this summer.

Interesting thread, what are people's thoughts on Milan MXP surviving? Would make sense to focus on LIN for a while perhaps.

In terms of Gatwick, I suspect we've seen the last JFK service for a long time, unlikely YYZ will come back either, looks like AMS has been dropped for the short term. From a conversation I had yesterday it also seems like the Glasgow and Edinburgh services from LGW will see cut backs, (the domestics from Gatwick have always been the 'loss making routes'), wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of summer seasonal short haul stuff not operate at all this year. Reckon Bordeaux is at risk as they had cut that one back this summer anyway, I agree with BAeuro that Antalya looks uncertain. I doubt if they'll continue FCO from Gatwick either, not with Vueling also operating that.

I think Bergamo will go for sure and probably Malpensa too.

As for Glasgow and Edinburgh to Gatwick, they were a hit with the connecting pax going to the Caribbean. If BA move a few of the Caribbean routes up to LHR to compete with Virgin, then the domestics at LGW will be stripped right back.

You’re right about LGW-FCO, especially as BA only have 1 flight a day. Vueling can easily up their capacity on the route, a bit like what happened with BA axing LGW-BCN.

Hopefully Bordeaux stays and it could be a good candidate for LHR.

I also noticed that TAP are moving one daily Porto flight from LGW to LHR. I think BA would be wise to move that route to LHR, don’t forget it was launched from Heathrow back in 2014.

I suppose ultimately it will come down to how many connecting passengers etc for making these decisions but I suspect Porto is a good shout of one likely to end up at LHR. Will be interesting to see what happens with Terminal 3 at Heathrow, reckon we could have seen the end of that for BA for a while at least. Simply no need for it at the moment.

I reckon Bordeaux will be okay. They were selling K class for every flight from now til winter until last week when the other fares opened up. Managed to bag a good deal for a mid August weekend.

There’s still 2 flights on at least some Fridays, and daily throughout the year otherwise.
Prices can get very expensive for summer weekends and around holiday times so I guess BA make a decent screw on this route.