British Airways Pulls The Airbus A380 From Boston Flights This Winter

British Airways had intended to use the Airbus A380 on a three-weekly basis to Boston this winter. However, it removed the four-class, 469-seat type from the route in the latest schedule update. It also reduced overall winter frequencies to Boston.

Shifting to lower gauge equipment and reducing flights will mean better pricing and loads in the off-season. Helping will be United ending London Heathrow-Boston on October 28th and Norse Atlantic – which only started London Gatwick-Boston on September 2nd – making it summer-seasonal. Both further remove winter capacity from the airport and city-level markets.

The A380 to Boston

The 3,265-mile (5,254 km) route will now see the double-decker until September 30th, the end of the key summer period. Do not misunderstand. While BA has used its largest equipment to Massachusetts since March 2017, it has not previously deployed it in winter, so this development is unsurprising. Click here for the world’s most-served A380 routes.

Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock.

Still, Boston (BA’s shortest A380 route) is used to seeing the A380 through October, with the 28th marking the end of the Northern Hemisphere summer season this year, the day before airlines switch to winter schedules.

BA’s Boston flights are down by a fifth+

While BA previously planned triple daily Boston flights this November-February, they now vary from a low of 11 weekly to a high of 18 weekly. There will be a double-daily service from mid-January before returning to a triple-daily next summer.

Last winter, there were mainly three flights a day, in addition to transatlantic joint venture partner American’s daily operation, which continues at that frequency. American reintroduced Boston-Heathrow in 2021, having last operated it in 2013.

Photo: Ceri Breeze I Shutterstock.

The latest update saw BA’s frequencies reduce by 21%. Cirium indicates there will be 271 departures this November-February (double for both ways) against the previously planned 342. BA’s one-way seats have fallen by almost a third, with 28,000 cut.

Snapshot: February 2024

As of September 4th and subject to change, five airlines plan 48 weekly non-stop London-Boston flights in the first week of February (mainly seven daily), as summarized below. Frequencies have fallen from 62 in the same week in 2023 (mainly nine daily), a drop of 23%.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying.

Weekly seats for sale have fallen by a quarter versus last year, a significant drop of 3,400 each way. Expect higher prices this winter from better capacity management.

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.

Sources of information: Cirium, Google Flights, and airline websites.