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British Airways
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- BA/BAW
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s):
- London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport
- Year Founded:
- 1974
- Alliance:
- oneworld
- Airline Group:
- IAG
- CEO:
- Sean Doyle
- Country:
- United Kingdom
British Airways has scheduled its Boeing 787 Dreamliners for some more short hops in June, though the airline won't operate as many flights as in previous months. The British flag carrier has scheduled just three rotations with a widebody jet on the route from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) during the latter part of the month.
When one thinks of widebodies, they typically think of faraway destinations after long flights. We've seen narrowbody aircraft operating longer flights more recently, while some widebodies have been operating shorter hops. British Airways is no stranger to shorter widebody hops, typically substituting aircraft to meet the needs of its sister company, IAG Cargo.
Stockholm on a Boeing 787
Next month British Airways has scheduled a Boeing 787-9 to fly from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) in Sweden on three consecutive Mondays. According to schedule data from Cirium and confirmed by the British Airways booking office, on June 13th, 20th, and 27th, the Dreamliner will fly to Stockholm as follows,
- BA 778 - London Heathrow Airport (LHR) 11:10 - Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) 14:45 - Boeing 787-9 - 02h35m
- BA 779 - Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) 16:15 - London Heathrow Airport (LHR) 17:55 - Boeing 787-9 - 02h40m
Passengers booking these flights specifically to experience the Boeing 787-9 should be warned that flight schedules are subject to change at short notice.
Experience lie-flat without leaving Europe
According to Expert Flyer, the First and Club World cabins on the Boeing 787-9 are being sold as Club Europe (the business class cabin). However, all the first class seats and the last row of business class are marked as blocked. Similarly, the World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy) cabins are both shown as comprising the Euro Traveller cabin, though all of the premium economy seats are shown as blocked.
This essentially means that passengers have two options when it comes to seating, though, unlike the narrowbody fleet, there will be a different hard product. Passengers will get a standard British Airways economy seat in a 3-3-3 layout in the economy cabin. Meanwhile, the business class cabin offers the older Yin-Yang business class seat in a 2-3-2 configuration. While passengers in business class will be able to convert their seat into a lie flat bed, they won't be able to enjoy it for long. Additionally, the crew will serve the usual short-haul offering on the flight.
Why use the Boeing 787 for short-haul?
At this point, you may be wondering why British Airways is going to the trouble of flying the Boeing 787 to Arlanda for just three rotations. In these cases, the answer is typically freight capacity. It hasn't been uncommon throughout the last few years to see the BA Boeing 787 in the likes of Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris, to name a few. The reason is that IAG cargo uses the belly space of British Airways aircraft. When a big shipment is booked, it simply makes more sense to upgrade the plane if it won't fit in the belly of an A320 along with passenger luggage.
British Airways even takes this to new extremes between London and Frankfurt. There is currently such high demand for freight between the two cities that British Airways is flying its Airbus A380 on the route daily, solely to carry cargo with no tickets sold to passengers.
Are you excited to see the British Airways Boeing 787 scheduled for some more short-haul flights? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!
Sources: Cirium, Expert Flyer