British Airways Adds Sunshine Routes from London City

CRAWLEY, England, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- British Airways is growing its route network at London City Airport with the launch of two new sunshine routes next summer.

From June 07, passengers will be able to fly direct from the Docklands to Malaga in Spain and Faro in Portugal. Flights to Malaga will operate four times a week and flights to Faro three times a week.

The airline is also increasing frequency to Amsterdam to six daily flights, Glasgow to five daily flights and Edinburgh to eight daily flights next summer.  This is in addition to launching new services to Chambery in France in December and Stockholm in Sweden in January.

Flights will be operated by BA CityFlyer, the wholly owned British Airways subsidiary airline.

The popular summer services to Palma and Ibiza will resume at the end of March and means that the airline will be offering 40 per cent more seats on the total London City network than it did in the same period this year. There will be 400 flights a week in British Airways colours from London City Airport.

Luke Hayhoe, commercial manager BA CityFlyer, said: "We recently announced that we had taken up options on two additional aircraft for our brand new Embraer fleet and this is giving us more opportunity to add destinations, frequency and capacity to our network.

"We have responded to customer demand adding additional frequency and improving departure times to our existing Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Glasgow routes. In addition to this the Palma and Ibiza routes launched this year have proved so popular that we decided to venture further into the summer sun market. There is clearly a large demand for leisure travel from London City and it's a growing market."  

The addition of the new routes means more holiday choices in Europe for British Airways customers. Spain and Portugal have long since been favourite summer destinations for many British holiday makers and the airline offers a great variety of hotels in Faro and the surrounding Algarve, perfect for golf holidays and those looking for sandy beaches to enjoy a family holiday on Portugal's Estoril  Coast. The airline also offers a great choice of hotels in Ibiza and Palma to suit every taste and budget.

For the perfect city break in Europe customers can head to Amsterdam and enjoy a weekend discovering the city's great history by visiting the Royal Palace or Anne Frank's house. Closer to home, British Airways also offers hotels in Edinburgh, Scotland's beautiful capital with its thriving cultural scene, try Edinburgh's Fringe Festival in August, and Glasgow.

British Airways sells Avis car rental in most European destinations offering customers a convenient way of travelling once they get to their holiday destination.

The final 98-seat Embraer 190 aircraft will be delivered to British Airways in June next year, bringing the fleet total to 13 aircraft. The BA CityFlyer fleet will have seven Embraer 190s and six 76-seat Embraer 170 aircrafts.

About British Airways:

British Airways plc offers a wide range of worldwide destinations - including European city breaks, family holidays, hotels, flights, car rental and experiences. Customers can save time and money with ba.com when booking ATOL protected holiday packages, ATOL number is 5985. Passengers are offered added peace of mind to their holiday plans and the security of travelling with British Airways. British Airways plc constantly seeks to exceed customers' expectations, both in terms of the value for money and quality of the service provided.

SOURCE British Airways