While global travel demand has recovered very nicely post-pandemic, there are some exceptions. China is one of those, and here’s the perfect example of just how bad the situation is.
British Airways cuts London to Beijing route
As of late October 2024, British Airways will be canceling its service between London (LHR) and Beijing (PKX). The oneworld airline is technically suspending this service through the end of the schedule, though I’d basically consider that to be the same as a cancelation for these purposes, since I imagine it just means the airline will reconsider the route in the future.
British Airways only resumed service to Beijing in the middle of 2023, given for how long China’s borders remained closed after the pandemic, plus the lengthy quarantine required.
For what it’s worth, the route currently operates 4x weekly using a Boeing 777, with the following schedule:
BA89 London to Beijing departing 3:05PM arriving 9:35AM (+1 day)
BA88 Beijing to London departing 11:20AM arriving 5:40PM
The 5,106-mile flight is blocked at 11hr30min eastbound and 13hr20min westbound. The flight takes more time than it used to, given the airspace restrictions regarding flying over Russia.
It’s amazing how China travel demand has plummeted
With British Airways canceling its Beijing service, the carrier’s only other service to Mainland China is a once daily flight to Shanghai (PVG). Not only is British Airways canceling its Beijing flight, but the airline is further reducing Hong Kong (HKG) service for the upcoming winter season, as British Airways will only offer once daily flights in the market.
British Airways has historically flown 2x daily to Hong Kong, including with some frequencies being operated by Airbus A380s, so the drop in capacity is significant.
Looking at service between the UK and China, Virgin Atlantic also recently announced it would end Shanghai flights, representing the end of the SkyTeam carrier’s service to the Far East.
Obviously demand isn’t just down between the UK and China, but rather this is consistent between a variety of countries and China. US airlines are also only operating a small percentage of their pre-pandemic service to China.
But still, it’s kind of shocking to look at the scope of service reductions, when you consider that we’re talking about a country with 1.4 billion people, so it’s an absolutely massive country. The fact that British Airways can’t even sustain 4x weekly flights to China’s capital, with a population of over 20 million people, shows just how bad things have become.
Bottom line
As of late October 2024, British Airways will be ending its service between London and Beijing. The flight is currently operated 4x weekly, and the flight will be suspended for at least a year.
This upcoming winter, British Airways will have a daily flight to each of Hong Kong and Shanghai, and that’s the extent of the carrier’s service to Greater China.
What do you make of British Airways cutting Beijing flights?
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