Just four months after starting flights, British Airways has given up on the London City Airport (LCY) and Luxembourg (LUX) route. The decision to start flights on March 27th was met with a swift response by Luxair, which until then held a monopoly on the route connecting the financial hubs. The service will officially end on October 27th, with BA maintaining its connection from London Heathrow.

Game over for BA

In January, British Airways announced that it would start offering flights from London City Airport to Luxembourg, hoping to tap into the bustling business market between the airports. Luxair took the threat of any competition seriously and decided to up its LCY-LUX operations to (at least) five daily flights during the week. This was a significant challenge to BA, which started with two daily flights Monday-Friday, one on Sunday, and no service on Saturdays.

Flights began on March 27th, with BA expecting to see healthy loads by lowering the fare on the route. However, it turns out this was not to be, with British Airways announcing that it will ax the route come October 27th, according to Luxemburger Wort. The LHR-LUX route remains unaffected by these changes and will continue flying once daily from Monday to Friday.

BA Cityflyer, Southampton, Weekend Flights
BA's CityFlyer arm operated the 1-hour and 10-minute hop into continental Europe. Photo: Getty Images

Currently, BA operates two flights: one departing LCY at 07:20 AM and landing at 09:30 AM local times, and the second leaving at 16:55 and landing in LUX at 19:05 (block time of 1hr 10 mins). The return flights left LUX at 10:10 AM (landing at 10:25 AM) and 19:45 (landing at 20:00 local times). This is compared to Luxair's robust schedule of six flights (Monday-Friday) out of LCY: 06:40 AM, 07:35 AM, 08:15 AM, 11:35 AM, 15:55, and 18:40 (all taking 1hr 15 mins) and leaving LCY at 06:45 AM, 07:25 AM, 10:50 AM, 15:10, 17:55, and 21:30.

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It's not hard to ascertain why British Airways struggled on its latest route. On a business-heavy route, having the earliest arrivals and departures is crucial to offer travelers the most time in the office through the morning. For London-bound passengers, landing at 10:25 AM would mean hours of the day lost, and only slightly lesser for Luxembourg-bound passengers, who land at 09:30 AM. Luxair offers far better timings in terms of an 08:55 AM arrival (the earliest due to LCY's curfew) into LUX and even at 07:05 arrival into LCY to maximize day trips.

Given the barrage of flights available on Luxair, it's easy to see how passengers preferred the flexibility over BA's much tighter schedule, and with business travelers likely to shell out more, the small price differential is unlikely to swing it BA's way. Nonetheless, the loss of competition will hurt passengers as fares will quickly rise on this route once BA makes its exit. While Luxair might be likened to David in terms of overall size, on this route, it is definitely the Goliath.

What do you think about British Airways' decision to ax flights out of London City to Luxembourg? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Luxemburger Wort