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British Airways adds Gibraltar and Faro flights from City, Manchester, Edinburgh

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British Airways is bringing forward the launch of its new route to Gibraltar from London City Airport.

It is also launching Faro flights from Edinburgh and Manchester.

These have been triggered by strong suspicions that Gibraltar and Portugal will be on the ‘Green’ list of ‘no quarantine’ destinations which kicks in from 17th May. The list is due to be announced today.

Faro

Gibraltar

If you need inspiration for trip, then you might like reader Matthias’ review of a day trip to Gibraltar.

Flights from London City Airport are operating twice a week – Mondays and Fridays – using BA CityFlyer’s Embraer E190 aircraft:

The first flight was due to depart on Friday 25th June. This has now been brought forward to Friday 11th June.

BA3289 will operate on Monday and Friday. It departs London City at 13:15 and arrives in Gibraltar at 17:10. The return flight is BA 3290, departing Gibraltar at 17:55 and landing at 19:50.

These feature a 2-2 configuration in both Club Europe and Euro Traveller (there is no blocked seat in Club Europe).

Remember that there is no lounge at London City so, on the outbound, there is no real benefit to Club Europe apart from the improved food and drink. Seating is 2×2 irrespective of class.

You may want to consider flying out from Heathrow, because of the better facilities, and back into City to avoid a potential long immigration queue.

Faro

BA CityFlyer had also added additional flights to Faro.

Edinburgh to Faro launches on 29th May and is scheduled to run until 20th June. Flights will operate on Saturdays and Sundays.

From late June, the aircraft is due to swap to operating flights to Florence. My understanding is that BA CityFlyer may decide to drop this and continue with Faro if the demand is there.

Manchester to Faro has been announced via Twitter but was not bookable as of last night. Flights will operate on Saturdays from late May and will use an Airbus A319 from the Gatwick fleet.

Book now

Gibraltar to London City and Edinburgh to Faro are bookable on ba.com for cash or Avios.

Manchester to Faro was not bookable at all, for cash or Avios, as of last night.

You can book on the BA website here.

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Comments (42)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • MH says:
    7 May7 May 06:50

    Thank you for that, just bagged myself two return business flights!

  • TimM says:
    7 May7 May 07:50

    Having removed every Cityflyer route from Manchester as far as the current event horizon, I find it odd that BA puts on a small Airbus on a single route.

    • Barry cutters says:
      7 May7 May 08:07

      Because it’s one of only 3 European destinations where it’s plausible to fly to for a holiday .

      Demand for these flights will be tremendous from may 17th to mid summer when Spain and Greece go to green .

  • Hawgaw says:
    7 May7 May 07:52

    I’ve just asked Google… How many miles between EDI – GIB… 1948…damn….. just short of 2000 for 80 TP…..

    • Nick says:
      7 May7 May 09:08

      Since when has 2000 miles been the trigger for 80 TPs? Most of the European routes with 80 TP are shorter than this. Perhaps you’re confusing it with the US domestic trigger for 140, which is formalised (unlike in Europe, where in reality there is no actual rule).

      • Rob says:
        7 May7 May 09:18

        There is some rule in place, because Manchester to Palma (was it Palma?) was 80 TP whilst London to Palma was/is 40.

  • PaulW says:
    7 May7 May 07:52

    Would man – faro be an 80tp route?

    • PaulW says:
      7 May7 May 07:53

      Seems not as already listed in BA calc. Must be close as Malaga was I think

  • Harry T says:
    7 May7 May 08:03

    I suspect our Edinburgh to Florence flights in July will be cancelled by BA. Reckon they would let us change to Faro, if so?

    • Neil says:
      7 May7 May 08:25

      You might be able to negotiate with a bit of perseverance but flights will fill up very quickly and then you just have the problem of accommodation and car hire etc. which are already getting very expensive

      • HBommie says:
        7 May7 May 10:09

        re car hire – I’ve been checking the prices for FAO and MIA recently and as you say prices are rising. But checking out the indirect booking sites such as ‘discover cars’ they are significantly cheaper than going direct, 1/3rd of the cost. Although I’m wary of going this route due to mixed reviews.

    • Lady London says:
      7 May7 May 11:47

      Way out of distance so unlikely.

      Though I would expect them to try to offer you Rome instead. They’d still be responsible for your costs to the booked destination ie getting you from Rome to Florence and back.

      Especially if your trip is, say, a week rather than a weekend (a weekend is never enough for Florence)…I wonder if you could benefit by reminding BA of this and getting them to agree to pay car hire for the period to and from. Other methods are going to be unfairly time-consuming.

      Car parking is a b*tc* in Florence but if your trip is long enough there are many places around this could be useful for.

      Let us know how this works out?

  • IanM says:
    7 May7 May 08:08

    These are not direct flights from Edinburgh to Faro? That’s what’s implied I think, but not according to BA booking page for dates I checked?

    • Froggee says:
      7 May7 May 08:50

      There are definitely direct flights to Faro from Edinburgh.

  • Steve R says:
    7 May7 May 08:14

    Nearly got excited thought they were doing Man to Gib

  • Roger says:
    7 May7 May 09:46

    LCY -> Gibraltar flights booked for start of July. Another hotel thoughts?

    • Rob says:
      7 May7 May 10:18

      Not many options. HI Express if you want to use or burn points. The Rock is the ‘classic’ Gib hotel. Given that you can walk the whole place in a few minutes location isn’t really an issue unless you want a sea view.

      • chabuddy geezy says:
        7 May7 May 10:40

        I have stayed at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel, would recommend.

    • Travel Strong says:
      7 May7 May 11:15

      From most expensive to cheapest:
      Sunborn, Rock, HIX, AirBnB.
      Recommend them all!

      As said, all are close to everything so all equally convenient for food and exploring.
      Beds excellent at all the hotel options, breakfasts excellent, and views excellent.
      The only real differentiator is the style of property!

      Sunborn = oriental opulence style, as per the likes of mandarin oriental, genting, shard.

      Rock = impeccable british colonial ruler style, more akin to a carribean resort, hotel nacional vibes but actually fresh and modernized

      Holiday Inn Express = Standard Modern HIX,
      brand new, basically fixed cost £107pn, points from 16k to 37k and everything inbetween.

      AirBnB = everything imaginable, just make sure its not in La Linea and is in Gibraltar!

    • geoff says:
      8 May8 May 10:44

      Depends on your party too – the Caleta is on the east side, with its own beach if that’s what you’re after, but not really walkable into town.

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