STRONG competition has forced British Airways to drop Melbourne, Durban and Botswana flights for the summer.
BA said its daily two-stop Heathrow-Melbourne service is being axed because faster one-stop services from rivals have made it increasingly difficult to compete financially.
Instead, Melbourne passengers will be able to use BA codeshare services on Qantas’ thrice-weekly flight to the city from Heathrow via Bangkok.
BA rivals on the route – including Singapore Airlines, Ansett Australia, Air New Zealand, which operate a codeshare, – and Emirates have invested heavily in improving services to Australia last year.
In southern Africa, the four weekly BAflights from Heathrow to Durban are being cut.
Instead, Durban passengers will connect from BA’s Heathrow-Johannesburg flights on the daily codeshare services of South African airline Comair.
BA is also suspending its twice-weekly Heathrow-Gaborone service from April.
The new network is the result of a comprehensive review of southern Africa flights to expose uneconomical routes.
Director of passenger services Charles Gurassa said BA’s global alliance partnerships enabled it to make the Melbourne and Durban changes, but still offer a competitive schedule.