British Airways has revealed several initiatives as part of its £7bn transformation plan over the next two years, including route resumption, free in-flight messaging for Executive Club members and new short-haul seats.
The initiatives were unveiled at a British Airways showcase event in London on March 4, attended by the airline's chairman and chief executive, Sean Doyle.
In an informal chat, he commented:
“I have been running British Airways for three years and the rebuild has not been without its challenges. This is obvious not only to everyone at British Airways but to the entire industry. But we are making great progress in solving the basics.”
He outlined the five approaches to investment: driving operational resilience, investing in IT assets, improving the digital experience, improving the colleague experience and embedding sustainability at the heart of the business.
“It's not just talk, it's backed by a very, very significant financial commitment.”
On the operations side, he added:
“You can transform a lot of things in an airline, but if your operation doesn't meet the basics, you won't get very far. You will be able to have a great experience on board. [and] The crew may be in fantastic shape, but if the planes are late then you have a problem.
“We have had a huge focus on operational resilience and punctuality, and it is fair to say that I think over the last three months we are making good progress. Our average departure punctuality at Heathrow over the past few months has been 80 per cent. “We have been better than the average of all the other airlines at the airport and that is a significant change from where we were maybe six months ago.”
For this first story, we've focused on the network, cabin updates, and lounge updates, but we'll also be writing an article about the new website, updated mobile app, improved technology services, and sustainability operations. in a separate piece. We will link to this here once it is available.
Route Resumptions and Launches
The airline will restart flights from London to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur from October and November respectively. The airline was initially scheduled to lift the suspension of flights to the Thai capital in October 2022, but this was postponed until 2023 and will now return from October 28.
A three-times-weekly service will be operated between Gatwick and Bangkok on a three-class Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, configured with 32 Club, 48 World Traveler Plus and 252 World Traveler seats.
Return fares start from £699 in economy, £1,297 in premium economy and £3,257 in Club World. The flight schedules are as follows:
BA2231 departs LGW 2100, arrives in BKK at 1551 the next day
BA2230 departs BKK at 2255 and arrives at LGW at 0530 the next day.
This resumption will be followed by daily flights from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur from November 10.
These flights will be operated on a four-class Boeing 787-9 aircraft configured with 8 First, 42 Club, 39 World Traveler Plus and 127 World Traveler seats. Return fares start from £620 in economy class, £1,388 in premium economy, £3,200 in business class and £4,000 in first class. The flight schedules are as follows:
BA33 departs LHR at 20:45 and arrives at KUL at 17:30 the next day.
BA34 departs KUL at 23:20 and arrives at LHR at 05:35 the next day
Additionally, the airline will return to Abu Dhabi on April 20, launch flights to Agadir in Morocco on March 31 and add Izmir in Turkey to its network on May 18.
Cabin upgrades
British Airways also unveiled the look of new short-haul Euro Traveler and Club Europe seats on the airline's next generation A320neo and A321neos, eight of which will arrive from May.
Seats have the same design in both cabins, although those in Club Europa (business class) feature a custom-made leather tray in the empty seat between the aisle and the window seat, and will be equipped with USB-A and USB-C (60W). Backrest-mounted charging ports: will be 15W in Euro Traveler (economy class).
The airline is working with British suppliers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland for these seats. Eight planes are scheduled to arrive starting in May, and the redesigned cabins will also be equipped with extra-large overhead luggage compartments.
In more cabin news, BA revealed it will introduce a new First suite in late 2025 as part of the revamp of its A380 aircraft, but has remained tight-lipped about the design.
