British Airways has announced seven new routes from Heathrow.
After last week’s announcement of a third runway at Heathrow you would expect those routes to be to China or other Asian cities. Or to South America. Or the Middle East.
Well the new routes from Heathrow are to Brindisi, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Pula, Tallinn and Zakynthos.
Let’s look at where those destinations are.
- Brindisi (a coastal city in southern Italy)
- Montpellier (a city in southern France, 10km inland from the Mediterranean)
- Murcia (in southeast Spain and the gateway to the Costa Cálida beaches)
- Nantes (in western France near the Atlantic coast)
- Pula (a seafront city in Croatia, gatweay to the Istrian beaches)
- Tallinn (a seafront city and capital of Estonia)
- Zakynthos (a Greek holiday island)
All largely holiday routes in the EU!
The services start from March 28, 2017.
There will also be extra services from Heathrow to:
- Palermo (a beach resort in Italy)
- Mykonos (a Greek holiday island)
And to Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland). Probably the only destination on these lists that could be described mainly as non-tourist. Also the only non-EU destination.
BA will fly from Heathrow to six Greek holiday destinations in 2017:
- Corfu
- Kalamata
- Kos
- Mykonos
- Santorini
- Zakynthos
The announcement comes days after British Airways dropped its Heathrow to Chengdu route due to lack of demand.
It also comes just after the announcement that the UK Government wants to build a third runway at Heathrow so that the UK can reach the developing markets in China and the rest of the world. Especially important once the UK leaves the EU in a few years.
Last week the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, said a new runway at Heathrow would “crucially boost our connections with the rest of the world, supporting exports, trade and job opportunities”.
British Airways is by a long way the biggest customer at Heathrow.
N.B. Image credit: wikipedia.org
