British Airways Announces Plans to Expand into North America

Willie Walsh just recently said, on June 17, that British Airways is ready to expand its network in North America. The CEO of the airline said that it’s only a matter of time before the UK national carrier flies to two or three more North American cities.

Mr Walsh said that he was also being pushed by corporate customers to fly more service from London City Airport. This would be either more capacity on some of the existing flights, like New York, or on new routes to cities like Chicago, Washington, or Boston.

In a key note speech that was given at the Business Travel Market in London, Mr Walsh said that the feedback on the all business-class service to New York, which began last year, had been fantastic. He said that he was very surprised at how quickly it had really established itself among corporate customers. However, the challenge at London City is the length of the runway.

Walsh said that, realistically, it is only possible to fly to the east coast of the United States, Boston, Washington, and Chicago. However, the airline is pushing to fly to more destinations. If the good response continues, they will definitely be adding additional services.

Earlier in the speech, the CEO said that British Airways has been ready to add more North American cities to its network. However, it stooped because of the onset of the recession. Mr Walsh also rejected the idea that British Airways would withdraw from short-haul operations. He said that short haul flights are part of business, and 20 years from now they will still have short-haul flights. Right now the priority of the airline is to return to profit.