en.Wedoany.com Reported - British Airways plans to operate an average of 94 daily long-haul flights from London Heathrow (LHR) and London Gatwick (LGW) between July 2026 and March 2027. As the UK's largest long-haul operator and a member of the oneworld alliance, the airline's long-haul capacity during this period will be 5% higher than from July 2025 to March 2026. Despite facing slot shortages at Heathrow, British Airways has increased its long-haul flight schedule from the airport by 6% through adjustments to its route network and flight frequencies.

British Airways is set to launch six new long-haul routes, three from Heathrow and three from Gatwick. Some routes involve airport-level transfers: flights originally from Gatwick to San José Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) and Tampa International Airport (TPA) will be moved to Heathrow. After a four-year absence, British Airways will resume flights from Heathrow to Orlando International Airport (MCO) this month, operating three times a week during UK school holidays using Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

The specific route schedule includes: from July 21, 2026, LHR to MCO three times weekly; from October 23, LGW to Colombo three times weekly; from October 25, LGW to Barbados daily, and with the addition of LHR-Barbados capacity, British Airways will operate up to three daily flights, the highest level in over 30 years; on the same day, October 25, LHR to SJO five times weekly and LHR to TPA five times weekly, with the latter's original LGW-TPA route having the lowest load factor among all British Airways US routes; from January 8, 2027, LHR to Melbourne (via Kuala Lumpur) daily. The SJO route transferred to Heathrow will, for the first time, provide regular flights from the UK's busiest airport to Costa Rica and Central America. This route will be operated by 204-seat Boeing 787-8 aircraft, with business class accounting for 15%, higher than the less than 10% on the original LGW route using 332-seat 777-200ERs. Data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority for 2025 shows that British Airways carried 34,701 round-trip passengers between LGW and SJO, with a load factor of 79.2%. Among all airlines, British Airways accounts for approximately one-third of the total 104,000 passengers in the London-SJO market.

The Colombo route marks British Airways' return to the Sri Lankan market. Data shows that last year, 362,000 round-trip passengers traveled between Colombo and London, with over half opting for indirect flights. Given the situation in the Middle East, British Airways will operate three weekly direct flights from LGW to Colombo starting October 23, 2026, using 332-seat 777-200ERs. SriLankan Airlines will operate nine weekly direct flights from LHR to Colombo during the same period, with the two airlines together offering 12 weekly direct services, the highest number of direct flights on record.