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Is British Airways about to launch flights to Kansas City?

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British Airways has let it slip that it is about to announce a new route to the United States.

Because, let’s be honest, the existing 26 routes to the United States aren’t nearly enough ….

Who wouldn’t prefer the 27th most important US city instead of, say, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat or other dropped routes? Realistically, of course, many of these routes are difficult until the restrictions on Russian airspace are lifted.

BA British Airways flights to Kansas City

The big question is where?

I’m not a routes expert, but the good people over at Flyertalk have proposed a short list which includes:

  • Providence
  • Hartford (soon to gain Aer Lingus flights)
  • Raleigh-Durham (taking over from American Airlines)
  • Indianapolis (past rumours of BA being interested)
  • Minneapolis-St Paul (a Delta route)
  • Louisville
  • Detroit
  • Cincinnati
  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Salt Lake City
  • Fort Myers
  • Jacksonville
British Airways Kansas City

Why is Kansas City looking possible?

The smart money, however, seems to be pointing at Kansas City, Missouri.

There is a very high chance that British Airways is being offered a big wad of cash to open the route. There are a lot of US cities without any direct flights to Europe, and this is a big issue when it comes to attracting inward investment.

Aer Lingus is a past master at this. Routes Online reported that Aer Lingus will receive $3 million over a three-year period for operating its new Cleveland service. Divide $3 million over three years by four flights per week and that’s a handy $5,000 per return trip.

This local TV news report suggests that Kansas City officials met with British Airways in Bergen in May, at the annual Routes conference, to pitch for flights. Missouri’s state budget includes $5 million allocated for a ‘transatlantic flight loan guarantee incentive’.

There are, apparently, already 400 people per day who are taking transatlantic flights from Kansas City. At the moment all 400 have to change aircraft on the way.

Other points in favour of Kansas City are its role as a host city for the 2026 World Cup and the upcoming opening of a new terminal at Kansas City International Airport.

More news as we get it ….

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Comments (105)

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

  • Martin says:
    10 Nov10 November 09:29

    It is interesting that countries such as the USA that are very anti-government when it comes to say health care are quite happy to accept municipally/state owned airports and give huge subsidies to airlines.

    • G says:
      10 Nov10 November 09:32

      Oh say can you see…!

    • dougzz99 says:
      10 Nov10 November 09:40

      I think in a population of 300 million you’ll find a range of views. But the subsidy is just about fear of missing out. The better your international connections the better your chances of attracting inward investment. Healthcare in the USA is politicised like abortion and gun control. I think all countries have large contradictions, presumably because of language and size we get to hear a lot more about the USA ones.

  • John says:
    10 Nov10 November 09:32

    Everything’s up to date in Kansas City. They’v gone about as far as they can go They went and built a skyscraper 7 stories high. About as high as a buildin’ orta grow.

  • Graviation says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:13

    I used my Virgin points to fly Delta to Detroit in February. Such an under-promoted yet fascinating city. I’m using VPs again to fly Delta to SLC in April. I’m really enjoying the increased direct access to the ‘secondary’ US destinations – makes good use of my Global Entry!

  • John T says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:27

    I pity the poor BA Comms Team Copywriter that will be tasked with coming up with ’10 reasons to visit Kansas City’….

    Though I guess with the strong USD this route will be primarily targeted at Kansas locals tempted by the idea of a direct flight to London

  • Matt says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:29

    I’m surprised Charleston SC didn’t make the shortlist. It’s the one route they haven’t brought back since pre-COVID.

    • PeteM says:
      10 Nov10 November 10:57

      Other travel bloggers are betting on Charleston 🙂 We shall see who’s right!

  • Mike says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:35

    Ugh bring back Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok already. If they can fly to Singapore, they can fly to KUL and BKK.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:25

      While that might technically be true I’m sure the manoeuvring round Russian airspace as an impact – time (staff hours turnaround etc) and fuel burn plus the general demand at the cost they’d have to charge to make it work

      I can’t believe if they saw a commercial opportunity they wouldn’t restart the route

      • Mark says:
        10 Nov10 November 23:38

        Really not much of an issue for KL or Bangkok though. Yes, the shortest great circle routing would take you through Ukrainian and Russian airspace, but to avoid it is not that much of a detour. Seoul on the other hand…

  • Lady London says:
    10 Nov10 November 11:39

    So…. are Middle East, Asian and Eastern Europe airlines going to be left ongoing as the ones serving East for someone departing from the UK?

    Virgin rolled up the carpet on their Asian routes even pre-pandemic and now BA/IAG look to be forming a bloc with AA that serves the Americas, Europe and leaves Asia to the others.

    I doubt this is a pandemic result I think it may be a carveup of dominant airline groups,of regions. But I can’t see how this is good for the UK – noting that IAG/BA is Spanish-run – given we need to look so much to Asia now that we are out of the EU.

    • JDB says:
      10 Nov10 November 12:10

      As above, BA will add more Asian routes when it’s commercially sensible to do so but all those airlines you mention make the competition tough and they already have revenue agreements. Continuing to build on their US franchise makes more sense.

      BA quickly restarted HK and Tokyo when they reopened. KUL/BKK/SEL were all marginal routes before and now they are short of aircraft and crew in common with many airlines. You talk of powerful airline groups – OneWorld is one of those! The offering east with AY/QR/CX/QF/JL in addition to BA is very strong.

      Virgin pulled out of HK permanently but I think they are hoping to restart Shanghai when they can?

  • Martin says:
    10 Nov10 November 12:12

    I worked in Kansas City MS some years back, and it’s honestly one of the most underrated cities in the US.

    Here’s what I wouldn’t miss:
    1. A world-class art museum.
    2. The original WWI museum.
    3. Excellent food, including the best BBQ in the country (eat your heart out Texas).

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