British Airways Resumes Direct Flights Between China and Britain After Three Years

BEIJING, April 25 (TMTPOST) British Airways, the flag carrier airline of Britain, officially resumed daily flights between London Heathrow Airport and Shanghai Pudong Airport on Monday, making it the first British airline to fly to China after three years of suspension.

British Airways, the United Kingdom's flag carrier airline, had announced that it would cut off flights to mainland China at the beginning of the pandemic on January 29, 2020, and resumed flights to mainland China on August 9, 2020, but suspended flights again soon.

British Airways officially announced in February 2023 that it would resume flights from London to Shanghai and Beijing in April and June, respectively. As negotiations between China and other countries on the resumption of flights began after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, another British airline, Virgin Atlantic, also announced that it would resume its Shanghai Pudong-London Heathrow route on May 2.

According to Flight Manager data, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operated a total of 48 round-trip flights per week between China and Britain before the outbreak of the pandemic, accounting for about 27 percent of the total Britain-China fights.

But before the resumption of British Airways flights, the China-Britain routes were all operated by Chinese carriers, including seven airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, and Beijing Capital Airlines, with 70 two-way flights per week. Air China resumed the most flights among these airlines, while the resumed flights of Shenzhen Airlines and Capital Airlines were as many as that in the pre-pandemic period.

An Eastern Airlines source said that the British carriers have always had the right to fly in line with the principle of reciprocity, but has been slow to resume flights. This is mainly because British airlines cannot fly over Russia and thus the flight time is longer.

According to a ticketing platform, it takes 11 hours and 45 minutes for China Eastern Airlines to fly directly from Shanghai to London, and 12 and a half hours for Air China, while the flight time for both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic is about 14 and a half hours. It takes about 11 and a half hours for Chinese airlines to fly from London to Shanghai, while it takes 12 and a half hours for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to finish the trip.

In the upcoming China's May Day holiday, the price of direct flights between China and Britain is high. The price of British Airways from Shanghai to London is about 15,000 yuan ($2,166) on April 29, and the highest price is about 27,000 yuan ($3,900) on April 30. Air China and Air China's direct flight prices are also above 13,000 yuan ($1,878).

There will be a drop in the round-trip prices after May Day. Prices of China-bound direct flights are 4,000 yuan ($577) to 5,000 yuan ($722) by the end of May, which is good for Chinese students abroad to return home during the summer holiday.

With the end of the first wave of the pandemic across China, many countries have phased out their pandemic prevention and control requirements for travelers flying from China. The British government has also removed the nucleic acid testing requirements for travelers from mainland China entering Britain since April 5.