British Airways has become the latest European airline to scale back flights to China as demand weakens and the cost of avoiding Russian airspace reduces the appeal of the route for carriers.
BA on Thursday said it would “pause” its route between London’s Heathrow and Beijing from October 26 for at least a year. The airline will still fly to Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The decision comes a month after rival Virgin Atlantic said it would stop flying between London and Shanghai from October 25. Virgin said the “commercial decision” was down to the “significant challenges and complexities on this route”.
European airlines have been banned from crossing Russian airspace since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, adding hours on to flights to parts of east Asia, and significantly increasing their fuel costs.
A BA flight on Wednesday between Beijing and London took 13 hours as it took a far longer route north-west over Mongolia and central Asia before entering European airspace.
In contrast, Air China’s flight on the same day between the cities took 10 hours, as its flight path headed north over Russia and used the curvature of the Earth to achieve a shorter route into Europe.
“For many European airlines, that additional burden has made them think long and hard about rebuilding their Chinese networks, with some carriers electing to scale back operations or even withdraw from the market,” said John Grant, chief analyst at aviation data company OAG.
Several European airline bosses have complained that they will struggle to compete with Chinese rivals because of the extra cost that the diversions around Russian airspace have entailed.
Last year, Ben Smith, chief executive of Air France-KLM, said Chinese airlines had an “unfair advantage” over European carriers, while the then Finnair chief executive, Topi Manner, said only the busiest routes to China would be profitable.
The decisions to shelve some flights to China also come amid signs that demand for flying between Asia and Europe has not recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic as quickly as expected.
IAG, BA’s owner, cited weakness in Asia in its earnings last week, while Lufthansa flagged a decline in revenues from the region last month.
Australian airline Qantas pointed to slow demand when it pulled its only flight to mainland China in May.
