Joe McConnell
British Airways will suspend its Beijing route from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) later this year. Virgin Atlantic will also drop two Caribbean routes from Heathrow in early 2025.
British Airways’ London-Beijing route returned in June 2023 after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the decision to suspend it once again came just 14 months later. British Airways operates the route to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) four times a week: on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is currently the only UK airline operating a direct service between Beijing and the UK. The service will cease on 26 October 2024.
“We will be suspending our Beijing route from 26 October 2024 and will be contacting all affected customers with options to rebook or offer them a full refund,” a British Airways spokesperson said.
The suspension is expected to last at least until November 2025, when it will be reviewed again. The airline will continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In 2022, Russia banned British airlines from flying in Russian airspace, making flights to Asia significantly longer and more expensive to operate. British Airways is not the only UK-based airline to face difficulties following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Virgin Atlantic announced it would suspend its London-Shanghai route in October for similar reasons.
Virgin Atlantic also announced plans to discontinue its services from Heathrow to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, and Nassau, Bahamas.
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Service to Turks and Caicos will be discontinued on February 21, 2025, while service to Nassau will end on February 23.
A Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said the airline hopes to further streamline its network by discontinuing service to Providenciales and Nassau.
“We have decided to increase our frequencies to Antigua, Barbados and Cape Town next year and regretfully suspend operations to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos,” the spokesperson said. “We are very sorry for the disappointment this has caused our customers flying to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, and anyone who has booked to travel on these routes from February 24 and February 22 respectively will be contacted regarding their options.”
Virgin Atlantic customers affected by the incident will be offered a full refund or alternative flights with a different airline.
The airline’s Antigua service will increase to four flights per week for the winter season and will run until April 30. Barbados service will have three additional flights, for a total of 10 flights per week. Virgin Atlantic’s seasonal Cape Town route will be extended by an extra month and will end on April 30.
In conclusion
Fourteen months after reinstating its direct flight service from London to Beijing, British Airways has decided to stop the route again due to the difficulty and high costs of operating it following a 2022 ban on British carriers operating in Russian airspace.
In other news, Virgin Atlantic has eliminated flights from Heathrow to Turks and Caicos and Nassau to streamline services and increase flight frequency to other destinations.
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