British Airways to return to London Stansted airport in 2024

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• Benjamin Murphy-Ryan says:

  12 Dec12 December 10:06

  Shame can’t consider BHX – will often choose AF/KLM, LH or EI now over trekking to London – such a quick experience even with changes needed. With Emirates and Qatar back in BHX now there is serious demand for premium flights too.

  • Richie says:

    12 Dec12 December 10:51

    They tried BHX with weekend Ibiza, Palma, Malaga flights, demand wasn’t strong enough.

    • Stu says:

      12 Dec12 December 12:21

      And some of the BHX flight times were really silly. I used the Malaga flight and remember getting into BHX in the early hours of Sunday morning. That might work for the Charter carriers but was no good for me.

• Oliver A says:

  12 Dec12 December 10:51

  No Genoa? Does anyone know why BA and Vueling stopped direct flights to Genoa?

  • Rhys says:

    12 Dec12 December 11:10

    Presumably because it wasn’t making money?….that’s generally why airlines stop flying to places!

  • Richie says:

    12 Dec12 December 11:17

    I think BA cut LGW-Genoa during the pandemic, Euroflyer was then introduced and I don’t think it’s part of the BAEF plan.

    • Oliver A says:

      12 Dec12 December 14:10

      Thanks Richie for the insightful comment. Even RyanAir have stopped post March 2024!

      • G K says:

        12 Dec12 December 15:29

        Yes, I noticed that too. No flights to Genoa on any airlines from Easter 2024. It went from having 4 direct flights there in 2019 (BA from LGW, Ryanair from STN, EasyJet from LTN, Vueling from LGW) to 0 in 2024. Very odd considering it is a prime Italian destination with Portofino, Cinque terre and the cruise port hub of Genoa.

        • Dubious says:

          13 Dec13 December 10:12

          The only non-Schengen destination from Genoa, after Easter 2024 will be Tirana (operated by Wizz).

          I am not sure if this is interesting or not though. It does seem that they will still have routes to Barcelona, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

        • Oliver A says:

          13 Dec13 December 10:52

          Extremely odd in all respects – and the last thing anyone wants to do in the summer is be stuck on the motorway between Milan and Genoa; or Nice and Genoa (for the extremely brave).

        • Phil Hunt says:

          16 Dec16 December 09:56

          Having driven to South Tuscany this summer, there’s always Pisa airport which is well serviced by multiple carriers, so Nice and Milan aren’t the only options.

• SamG says:

  12 Dec12 December 11:15

  There are a few reasons I think Stansted makes sense for these flights. Firstly most people are travelling to LCY by public transport. So arriving/departing from STN if you want a Saturday PM/Sunday AM flight instead is no major hardship.

  Secondly if people are searching “London” on ba.com then they’ll see these as an option. For visitors to London using public transport if they’re getting a good price/timing they can mix match their plans easily Whereas Birmingham, Manchester etc people wouldn’t naturally be searching ba.com and it was hard to gain awareness.

  Lastly it probably makes crewing easier if they need to taxi crews to/from base vs other parts of the UK

• Matthew says:

  12 Dec12 December 12:10

  Not sure your flight times are right. The ones online so far look like…

  – On Saturdays, BA7016 departs Florence at 16:15 and arrives in Stansted at 17:30
  – On Sundays, BA7017 departs Stansted at 07:55 and arrives in Florence at 11:10

  – On Saturdays, BA7308 departs Ibiza at 11:35 and arrives in Stansted at 13:05
  – On Sundays, BA7309 departs Stansted at 15:00 and arrives in Ibiza at 18:25

  – On Saturdays, BA2332 departs Nice at 11:20 and arrives in Nice at 12:20
  – On Sundays, BA2333 departs Stansted at 08:35 and arrives in Nice at 11:35

  • Rhys says:

    12 Dec12 December 12:25

    It’s what they sent us in the press release!

    • Rob says:

      12 Dec12 December 13:01

      What was in the second version we got?!

      • Rhys says:

        12 Dec12 December 13:04

        Same I think!

• Richard says:

  12 Dec12 December 12:27

  It’s time BA rebranded as LONDON AIRWAYS as it doesn’t support the rest of the country very well!!

  • Gordon says:

    12 Dec12 December 12:40

    It basically is! When I travel I get asked occasionally who did you fly with, and when I say BA, they come back with oh you come from London!

  • JDB says:

    12 Dec12 December 15:17

    So, are you going to call Iberia, Madrid Airways and Air France, Air Paris as well? It’s just economics.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    12 Dec12 December 17:09

    BA is a privately owned company. Its job isn’t to “support” anyone or any region but to make money for IAG.

    Even when owned by HMG it still operated on a commercial basis and served airports where it made money and not because HMG told them where to fly.

    • James says:

      12 Dec12 December 21:30

      While I generally agree with this, people often forget that BA, like all airlines, is given a huge effective subsidy in the form of both an exemption from fuel duty and zero VAT rating, so I think it is legitimate to question the distortion BA’s focus on the South East has to the economy of other regions in which tax payers reside.

      • JDB says:

        12 Dec12 December 23:25

        The tax exemption on fuel and tickets is a global agreement from which we can’t realistically exclude ourselves. It’s not a UK government decision and, in any event, it’s in the best interests of the country that we have a strong domestic aviation sector which inevitably means a focus on London and the South East. Or are you suggesting the government should fund unprofitable regional operations?

        • James says:

          13 Dec13 December 21:33

          No. I am questioning whether there is a legitimate complaint from those taxpayers who subsidise airlines who favour (and economically advantage) regions other than theirs.

• Richie says:

  12 Dec12 December 12:40

  Is BACF doing charters from Stansted summer Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings?

  • Michael says:

    12 Dec12 December 22:29

    You would think so, otherwise it’s a lot of effort to go to in order to park the aircraft at STN. Although if parking them, I suppose it saves on the costs of putting crew up at an outstation as they can just taxi them to LCY.

• Ed says:

  12 Dec12 December 14:08

  The BA7308 from Ibiza to Stansted takes ages. Nearly 12 hours

  • Rhys says:

    12 Dec12 December 14:13

    Oops!

• Josh says:

  12 Dec12 December 22:49

  Anything from Manchester? EI options okay but far fewer (if any) business class availability. Frustrating that the only dual runway airport outside London has been abandoned by the “flag” carrier /rant.

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