British Airways cuts Beijing route, Virgin Atlantic axes 2 prominent long-haul routes

British Airways will suspend its Beijing route from London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) later this year. Virgin Atlantic will also drop two Caribbean routes from Heathrow in early 2025.

British Airways' London-to-Beijing route returned in June 2023 following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the decision to suspend it once again came just 14 months later. British Airways operates the route to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) four times a week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is currently the only U.K. carrier to operate a direct service between Beijing and the U.K. The service will stop Oct. 26, 2024.

"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," a British Airways spokesperson said.

The suspension is expected to last until at least November 2025, when it will be reviewed once again. The airline will continue operating daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In 2022, Russia banned British airlines from flying in Russian airspace, making flights to Asia significantly longer and more expensive to operate. British Airways isn't the only U.K.-based airline facing difficulties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Virgin Atlantic announced it would suspend its London-to-Shanghai route in October for similar reasons.

Elsewhere, Virgin Atlantic has also announced plans to halt its Heathrow services to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; and Nassau, Bahamas.

The Turks and Caicos service will be cut Feb. 21, 2025, and the Nassau service will end Feb. 23.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said the carrier is hoping to further optimize its network by ending service to Providenciales and Nassau.

"We've made the decision to increase our frequencies to Antigua, Barbados and Cape Town next year and to sadly suspend operations to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos," the spokesperson said. "We're very sorry for the disappointment caused to our customers flying to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, and anyone booked to travel on these routes from 24 February and 22 February, respectively, will be contacted with their options."​

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Virgin Atlantic customers affected by the incident are expected to be offered a full refund or alternative flights with a different carrier.

The airline's Antigua service will increase to four flights per week for the winter travel season and will run until April 30. The Barbados service will have three flights added — for a total of 10 flights per week. Virgin Atlantic's seasonal route to Cape Town will be extended by an additional month and conclude April 30.

Bottom line

Fourteen months after reviving its direct flight service from London to Beijing, British Airways decided to cut the route once again due to how difficult and costly it is to operate following the 2022 ban of U.K. carriers from Russian airspace.

In other news, Virgin Atlantic has dropped its flights from Heathrow to Turks and Caicos and Nassau to optimize its services and increase flight frequency to other destinations.

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