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British Airways chops three Southampton routes for Summer 2023 – what’s left?

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Some HfP readers may be surprised to know that British Airways runs a relatively large number of routes out of Southampton Airport.

The launch of these services got caught up in the pandemic (the original announcement was made in December 2020) so they have never had much of a promotional push. The initial route launches were, in many cases, heavily delayed or suspended altogether.

There is a full service planned for Summer 2023, although three routes have just been culled.

British Airways southampton

Southampton Airport was, as the picture below shows, a major Flybe base before the airline collapsed. The BA services are a welcome respite for the airport which lost virtually all of its scheduled services at that point, although many routes have been picked up by other airlines since.

The BA flights use the Embraer E190 aircraft which serve London City Airport during the week but have nothing to do when City is closed over the weekend.

Which routes were pulled last week?

Three routes from Southampton were cancelled for Summer 2023. The three routes used one aircraft, which will now be stationed elsewhere.

The cancelled routes are:

  • Florence
  • Ibiza
  • Nice

Which BA routes remain at Southampton for Summer 2023?

Here are the routes that remain.

Most routes operate between late April / mid May and late October on weekends only, albeit you can’t yet book to the end of the schedule.

British Airways chops three Southampton routes for Summer 2023

Some of the routes below only have one departure per week. You are locked into a seven night trip unless you fly back to a different British Airways airport or fly back to Southampton on a different airline.

  • Alicante
  • Bergerac
  • Dublin
  • Edinburgh
  • Faro
  • Limoges
  • Malaga
  • Mykonos
  • Palma

What routes does BA fly from Southampton over the Winter?

Not many, but there is some life!

  • Chambery
  • Edinburgh
  • Salzburg

Live in London?

Many Londoners have probably never flown from Southampton. It is, however, surprisingly easy.

You can get a direct train from London Waterloo to Southampton Airport Parkway station. You will be in the small terminal building within a couple of minutes.

Is there a lounge?

Yes. Here is our review of the Spitfire Lounge at Southampton Airport.

Is there Business Class?

Yes, Business Class is available. As these are Embraer aircraft with 2×2 seating, however, there is no ’empty middle seat’ benefit. You would get access to the Spitfire Lounge.

Booking

Flights are bookable as usual via ba.com, for cash or Avios.

There is a special page on ba.com for the Southampton routes here, although it has not been updated in some time and contains multiple closed routes.

The BA page on the Southampton Airport website does seem to be current.


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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (59)

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

  • KevinS says:

    Hopefully the people who complain about London centric articles will appreciate this non London article!

  • Elnur Seyidli says:

    The avios business class return price from Southampton to Salzburg is 31500 Avios (+£50), whereas from London it is the usual price of 19500 Avios (+£50). Anyone knows why it is so high?

    • tony says:

      That is very odd, but you are indeed correct!

    • pauldb says:

      LON-SZG is 643 miles so it just squeezes into the lowest band (650mi). SOU-SZG is 682 miles so it’s the next band up – same as LON-VIE or LON-VCE.

      LHR-SZG is strictly 655 miles but all the London flights seem to be calculated from the central LON marker.

  • Terry Butcher says:

    Southampton is, in many regards, far preferable over what is London City Airport since it offers no fast track security or any lounge facilities and a cheese sandwich cost around £12.

  • RussellH says:

    Now that we live on the direct rail route from BHX to SOU, this will hopefully throw up some new opportunities!

    • Mikeact says:

      Not sure about that…you may go straight to Southampton Central…cross over and get the next train back up to Southampton Parkway ?

  • NorthernLass says:

    I wonder if BA will jump on the Eurovision bandwagon and schedule some flights from LPL?! Now that would be a dream come true, avios flights from the North West, but not MAN 🤣

    • Richie says:

      Does LPL permit early sunday morning flights between say 2-6am?

      • Nick says:

        Yes, LPL has no night constraints or noise quotas. At one point it was the busiest time of day, when they had the Royal Mail hub there.

  • Rich says:

    Thanks for this Rob, I have just booked Mykonos with my better half. Does anyone have any recommendations for hotels please? Thanks.

  • Jonny Price says:

    I don’t think Florence and Nice operated for much (if any) of the summer season this year, anyway – so I think in reality it is just Ibiza that is the noticeable chop.

  • David Starkie says:

    I think most cross-country trains coming down through Reading stop at Airport Parkway. It is about 200m from platform to terminal.

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

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