The covid pandemic and the UK's isolation force British Airways to close a large number of its intercontinental routes for the summer of 2021. The carrier is thus adjusting frequencies and destinations at a time when demand is struggling to recover.
For the IATA summer season which begins on 31 March, the British company is suspending 13 destinations on its long-haul networka real record.
From the end of March, the carrier will cease services within North America from Calgary, Charleston and Pittsburgh. From April, the carrier is also suspending San Jose in California. However, it has announced that it will resume its flights in winter.
In South America, Lima will also disappear from the company's timetable.
But it is above all on the Asian continent that most of the closures will take place. Starting with the Middle East, where British Airways will close itsAbu Dhabi, Dammam, Jeddah and Muscat between March and April.
In the Far East, the victims are called Kuala Lumpur, Osaka and Seoul. The company also announced the suspension of flights to Bangkok and Sydney throughout the summer.
On the African continent, the axe will fall on Durban and the Seychelles.
The destinations affected by the departure of British Airways had recently been opened, such as Osaka and the Seychelles. Durban was even the most recent. BA began flights to South Africa's third largest city last October!
The company justifies these closures by a sluggish demand and substantial losses which it is trying to stem. The British carrier lost more than 4 billion pounds in the first half of 2020. British Airways believes that demand on intercontinental routes will remain anaemic until 2023.
