British Airways will have four more US routes operating by early December

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With the US borders once again open to travelers originating in the UK, British Airways hasn’t been wasting any time as it moves to increase capacity and get transatlantic services restarted. We’ve already seen the airline bringing back its A380s to serve four of its US routes and now BA has confirmed that it will have four more US routes back online by early December.

British Airways restarts US services from Gatwick

There was a time when it looked like British Airways may abandon Gatwick completely but with the airline now having done a deal with the unions for its short-haul network, and with leisure traffic leading the way in the transatlantic recovery, Gatwick is back in the airline’s plans.

Yesterday, 15 November, was the first time that a British Airways service departed Gatwick for the United States since the pandemic began and a second US destination is set to get service from Gatwick starting later this week.

Tampa

Yesterday, Tampa got the first British Airways transatlantic service to depart from Gatwick since the pandemic started as the airline moved forward with its plan to reboot more of its long-haul network.

The press release issued by BA says that “services to Tampa will operate three times a week” but based on what’s in the booking systems right now, that’s not actually true. The systems show British Airways flying between Gatwick and Tampa between 5x and 7x per week during the current winter season and as if the airline is deliberately trying to confuse travelers, flights will depart at different times on different days with those departure times varying from week to week.

There’s no point in me trying to recreate the full BA Gatwick – Tampa schedule because its a mess, but here’s some information that may be of help:

• Westbound flights are scheduled to depart between 10:00 and 12:30 and are scheduled to arrive between 14:55 and 17:25
• Eastbound flights are scheduled to depart between 16:55 and 19:25 and are scheduled to arrive between 06:15 and 08:45 the following day.

This route is being operated by Boeing 777 aircraft with just 32 Business Class (old-style Club World) seats, 52 Premium Economy seats, and 252 Economy Class seats.

Orlando

From this coming Friday, 19 November 2021, British Airways will restart its London Gatwick – Orlando service on the following schedule:

BA2039 LGW 12:35 – 17:20 MCO (Fri, Sat & Sun)
BA2038 MCO 19:55 – 09:00+1 day LGW (Fri, Sat & Sun)

The route is set to be operated with the same version of the Boeing 777 that is operating on the Gatwick – Tampa route and although there will be a schedule change towards the end of March, this service is scheduled to be offered through Summer 2022 as well.

Two more Heathrow – USA routes will restart in December

Nashville

British Airways will relaunch its Heathrow – Nashville service on 9 December 2021 using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on the following schedule:

BA223 LHR 13:40 – 17:00 BNA (Tue, Thu & Sun)
BA222 BNA 19:10 – 09:10+1 day LHR (Tue, Thu & Sun)

The Dreamliners operating this route do not offer a First Class cabin but have a 35 seat Business Class cabin, a 25 seat Premium Economy cabin, and a 154 seat Economy Class cabin.

This service will continue through summer 2022 with more flights being added from the end of March 2022 to keep up with the anticipated increase in demand.

New Orleans

Flights between London Heathrow and New Orleans will restart from 9 December 2021 and are scheduled to operate 3x/week on the following schedule:

BA225 LHR 13:55 – 18:10 MSY (Tue, Thu & Sat)
BA224 MSY 20:40 – 11:15+1 day LHR (Tue, Thu & Sat)

Just as with the Nashville route which restarts on the same day, the service to/from New Orleans will be operated by BA’s 787-8 Dreamliners with a 3-cabin (35/25/154) configuration.

As things stand, a 3x/week service will be offered throughout the winter season and the 2022 summer season with a schedule change at the end of March 2022.

Bottom Line

With its Gatwick – Tampa route having restarted yesterday and with routes to Orlando, Nashville, and New Orleans all scheduled to come back online in the next few weeks, British Airways will soon be operating four more transatlantic routes than it was just a few days ago.

All these routes are open for bookings but with the demand for pre-Christmas travel as strong as it is, prices are high and award seats are hard to come by unless you’re happy to travel after the Holidays.