While the government of the United Kingdom considers resuming international air travel from May 17, 2021, British Airways searches for the most efficient way to use the forecasted growth of passenger demand for short-haul routes from the UK to Europe.
The air carrier might operate some of its wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 787, the Boeing 777, and the Airbus A350, on short European routes including Spain and Greece, as they are expected to recover quicker than long haul services, local media reports indicate.
Following UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement, international travel will be resumed from May 17th, 2021. Meanwhile, Greece and Spain, two of the most favorite Britons destinations, are expecting to welcome travelers starting by mid-May 2021. If the demand for European destinations increases enough to fill up the wide-body jets, British Airways might use them despite that narrow-body aircraft are more fuel-efficient on short routes.
However, the British air carrier has not officially confirmed yet whether larger jets would be used on short operations. If so, it would not be its first attempt to reposition jets for tasks available at hand. In October 2020, British Airways was temporarily operating its Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the London-Athens route to increase its cargo capacity. In 2019, the air carrier flew its Airbus A350 aircraft between London and Madrid for staff training purposes.
In December 2020, British Airways officially announced permanently canceling more than 15 long-haul routes in the upcoming summer season. The canceled destinations include Pittsburgh, and Charleston in the United States Calgary in Canada, Seoul in South Korea, Durban in South Africa, Dammam in Saudi Arabia, Lima in Peru, Osaka in Japan, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Muscat in Oman would be no longer served after March 28, 2021.
BA also scheduled April 24, 2021, as the last day of its operations to Seychelles, a popular winter holiday destination, while temporarily cutting all operations to Sydney, Bangkok, and San Jose from March 28 until at least October 30, 2021.
The airline’s decision to cut a bunch of long-haul destinations followed the significant drop in passenger demand and global travel restrictions, after which many air carriers worldwide were forced to cut staff and cancel routes.
According to the Flightradar24.com data, some of the British Airways wide-bodies are currently deployed in its main base at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) available for take-off at any moment.