British Airways will suspend its Heathrow service to Beijing later this year, just 14 months after the link resumed following the pandemic.
The airline told Travel Weekly in a statement: “We will be pausing our route to Beijing from 26 October 2024, and we’re contacting any affected customers with rebooking options or to offer them a full refund.
“We continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.”
Like other UK carriers, BA is not able to use Russian airspace and it is thought this is the main reason for the suspension, as flights times are longer – making the route more expensive to operate.
Last month, Virgin Atlantic said it will suspend its Heathrow-Shanghai route in October because of the extra costs of avoiding Russian airspace.
Not being able to fly over Russia has meant flights to Shanghai are an hour longer, while the return flights are two hours longer, requiring additional aircraft and crew time.
The BA service from London to Beijing Daxing airport resumed in June 2023 after it was suspended in January 2020 amid the pandemic.
BA is the only British carrier operating a direct service between Beijing and the UK.
Flights operate four times a week between Beijing and Heathrow, departing Daxing airport on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
It is thought the suspension will initially run until November 2025.
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