British Airways scraps three US routes until spring as Covid dampens demand for flights

British Airways is temporarily scrapping three US routes just months after resuming them.

The UK flag carrier will put a stop on its flights to Baltimore, Nashville and New Orleans this winter.

Services are not possible to book until spring 2022.

The flights only restarted towards the end of last year after the US finally lifted a 20-month ban on UK travellers.

The Baltimore route was revived on 19 November, followed by Nashville and New Orleans on 9 December.

However, tightening travel restrictions amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant have dampened demand again to the point where BA has made the decision to pull the services.

The final New Orleans service will depart on 15 January, while Nashville and Baltimore finish on 16 and 17 January respectively.

The carrier has also pushed back the resumption of its London-San Jose flights from March to June.

Flights to New Orleans will restart with four service a week from 26 April; daily flights to Baltimore resume on 2 May; and a daily service to Nashville returns on 9 May.

In Asia, BA has axed summer flights to Bangkok, Beijing Daxing and Shanghai Pudong – these services are scheduled to resume from October 2022.

The number of summer flights to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo Haneda has also been chopped in half, from twice daily to once a day.

At around the same time as BA is restarting the abovementioned US services, Virgin Atlantic is launching a new Transatlantic route.

From 25 May, it will fly direct from Heathrow to Austin, Texas – a route that is in direct competition with BA.

It is the airline’s first new route to the US since 2015.

Flights will initially operate four times a week on a Boeing 787.