Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1697
    +0.0003 (+0.03%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2635
    +0.0013 (+0.10%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,566.04
    -317.27 (-0.57%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

British Airways poised to restart US flights

British Airways
British Airways

The boss of British Airways says flights to the US should restart immediately because of the swift vaccine rollout in both the UK and America, while easyJet expects to start operating more flights from late May.

Sean Doyle, the airline'ss chief executive, said that Britain and the US were "more or less mirroring each other" on vaccination.

"That should lead to the UK and the US being able to lead the way in terms of opening up," he added. “There's an immediate opportunity to open up the US."

Transatlantic services have generated significant revenues for BA, with business and other corporate tickets proving extremely profitable.

ADVERTISEMENT

Although flights to short-haul destinations restarted last summer before the winter restrictions were implemented, routes to the US have remained closed throughout the pandemic.

Mr Doyle said: "The breadth and depth of the network we have provided there [transatlantic flights] historically has been a competitive advantage for us."

Experts have warned that long-haul services will be the last to return to pre-pandemic levels, with some forecasting that they will not fully recover until 2026.

The comments, made at the online aviation industry event CAPA Live, followed remarks made by the boss of Virgin Atlantic earlier this week.

Shai Weiss said he was planning for a long-term reduction in business flying, with corporate travel a fifth lower than pre-crisis levels for the next two years.

“Will business travel return in the same way? No, I don’t think so. But do I think there will be a return to business travel? Absolutely,” he told the Financial Times.

Markets HUB - easyjet PLC
Markets HUB - easyjet PLC

Meanwhile, Norwegian, which had sought to rival the likes of BA and Virgin Atlantic by offering budget services to the US, announced plans to raise up £510m from investors after securing court approval for a sweeping restructuring that includes culling its UK base at Gatwick airport.

EasyJet said on Wednesday that most countries were planning to resume flying at scale late next month and it expected to ramp up operations then.

However, operations for the three months to June 30 would still only be at 20pc of 2019 capacity levels, up from 14pc for the period from October to March.

Johan Lundgren, the chief executive of easyJet, said most European countries should be on the UK's green list for travel by May 17.

"I will struggle to see that there will be, unless something happens between now and then, that there would be many [European] countries who wouldn't be in that green category," he said.

Customers wanted to know which countries would be on the green list and Mr Lundgren urged the Government to confirm details as soon as possible.