British Airways Launching St. Louis Flights, With Millions In Incentives

British Airways has an impressive transatlantic route network, in particular the extent to which it serves smaller long haul markets that don’t see much transatlantic service. Along those lines, the airline has just revealed its latest transatlantic flight, which is another fun one… though the airline isn’t the only party footing the bill.

British Airways adds London to St. Louis flights in April 2026

As of April 19, 2026, British Airways will launch 4x weekly summer seasonal flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and St. Louis (STL). The flight will operate with the following schedule:

BA221 London to St. Louis departing 4:25PM arriving 7:30PM
BA220 St. Louis to London departing 10:00PM arriving 12:05PM (+1 day)

The 4,200-mile flight is blocked at 9hr5min eastbound and 8hr5min eastbound. It’ll operate on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in both directions.

British Airways will use a Boeing 787-8 for this route, which is its smallest long haul aircraft. This plane is equipped with 204 seats, including 31 business class seats, 37 premium economy seats, and 136 economy seats. Hopefully by the time the service launches, all 787-8s will feature the carrier’s Club Suites business class.

Here’s how Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, describes this new service:

“St. Louis is a fantastic addition to our US network – it’s a destination in itself as a city with a rich history and a vibrant cultural scene, as well as a gateway to exciting destinations beyond this. As the only direct route from the UK, this service will open up exciting new opportunities for our customers and further strengthen ties between the UK and the US Midwest.”

This new service isn’t coming cheap for St. Louis

It’s always awesome to see secondary airports get more long haul routes, as that’s a huge value-add for passengers. This will be St. Louis’ second transatlantic route, as Lufthansa also operates service to there from Frankfurt (FRA). At the end of the day these routes make sense on a couple of levels:

• American Airlines and British Airways have a transatlantic joint venture, so between the two airlines, they should have no problem filling these planes with passengers connecting from the area to London and beyond
• This appears to be a summer seasonal route, so it’s hard to go wrong with that, given the level of demand across the Atlantic, especially in a market with limited direct options

Oh, and then there’s the last reason, which is probably the biggest of all. St. Louis has committed at least $4.5 million in funding toward this flight, assuming the service operates for three years. So the local community is very much helping to make this flight viable, as I can’t imagine this service would’ve otherwise been launched.

I appreciate how British Airways has increasingly experimented in secondary markets. Most of the routes have worked out pretty well, while some have been pulled after a couple of years. I guess we’ll see if this service continues once the subsidies run out.

Bottom line

As of April 2026, British Airways will launch service to St. Louis, Missouri. The airline will offer 4x weekly summer seasonal flights with a Boeing 787-8. So this is about as low risk as British Airways long haul flights can get, in terms of service being summer seasonal, less than daily, and with the carrier’s smallest airplane, all while it’s being subsidized by the local community. But it’s cool nonetheless.

What do you make of British Airways launching St. Louis flights?