NEW ORLEANS, La. (WWL-TV) – British Airways will begin flying to New Orleans, making the Louisiana city the carrier’s 23rd destination in the United States.
Service to British Airways’ hub at London Heathrow will begin March 27. The airline will offer four flights a week on its 214-seat Boeing 787-8 “Dreamliner” aircraft.
British Airways says New Orleans customers will be able to connect via Heathrow to 130 other cities “throughout Europe and beyond.”
“We are delighted to be adding New Orleans to the British Airways global network,” Simon Brooks, senior vice president sales for British Airways, said in a statement.
Brooks added that BA expects New Orleans to be “a big hit with British visitors,” but said the airline is hoping for corporate traffic as well.
For New Orleans, the trans-Atlantic route is a welcome addition. The current flight schedule is primarily domestic, though there are three routes to Central America and the Caribbean. (Panama City; Cancun, Mexico; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic).
New Orleans last regular nonstop link to Europe was back in 1982, according to The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
Until this year, new routes across the Atlantic had been slow to materialize for New Orleans. German leisure carrier Condor Airlines announced this summer it would add seasonal service between New Orleans and Frankfurt, giving New Orleans its long-desired connection to Europe.
Technically, British Airways’ London service will be the only nonstop option to Europe when it launches in March. The Condor service isn’t scheduled to begin until May.
But bringing a full-service airline like British Airways is more likely resonate with travelers than the lesser-known Condor.
Regardless, New Orleans officials lauded the arrival of the new London service.
“For years, we have pursued bringing more direct international flights to Armstrong Airport and with the addition of British Airways it’s clear our hard work is paying off,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in BA’s statement. “Nonstop flights to London open a gateway to new international markets that will create jobs and new opportunity. In advance of our city’s tricentennial in 2018 and the opening of new North Terminal project, New Orleans is poised for big things as we welcome more travelers from around the world to our world-class city.”
British Airways also flew to New Orleans previously, but not since the early 1980s. The flight was part of one-stop service that continued on to Mexico, British Airways told Today in the Sky.
Also of note in Thursday’s New Orleans announcement from British Airways is its plan to use the Dreamliner on the route.
The carrier has previously used the aircraft to develop “thin” routes to smaller markets that otherwise might not have enough demand to fill a trans-Atlantic widebody jet. The 787 has a long range, but a smaller seating capacity than long-haul widebodies like Boeing’s 777 or Airbus’ A330.
In fact, Boeing’s Dreamliners have helped it open up new markets before in the United States.
In March 2014, BA used its Dreamliner to open up nonstop service to Austin — then one of the smallest U.S. markets to get a nonstop connection to Europe.
The smaller size of the jet essentially allowed BA to test the market with a smaller aircraft, minimizing its exposure if demand didn’t materialize as expected. In Austin’s case, the service was a hit and British Airways eventually began flying bigger 777s to the city.
