British Airways made this announcement:

After celebrating its momentous centenary year in 2019, British Airways is now looking to 2020, with 20 New Year resolutions that are every bit as exciting as the achievements of 2019.

1. New destinations – the airline has already announced nine new routes for 2020 including the Kosovan and Montenegrin capitals Pristina and Podgorica, Perugia in Italy, Antalya, Dalaman and Bodrum in Turkey, San Sebastián in Spain, Rhodes in Greece and Portland, Oregon, and it’s promising even more new destinations for customers to come.

2. New aircraft – the airline is due to take delivery of more than 20 new aircraft in 2020, including 787-10s and A350s which are up to 40% more fuel efficient than the aircraft they replace. 

3. Club Suite – more aircraft will be flying with the airline’s new business class seat, Club Suite, which offers privacy via a suite door, 40% more storage space and a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle access for all passengers.

4. Caring for the environment – from January British Airways will be offsetting all its domestic flights, customers travelling further afield can offset their individual emissions. The airline will be making additional announcements about sustainability throughout the year.

5. First – customers can expect to see more aircraft fitted with the airline’s newest First seat, currently available on its 787-9 aircraft.

6. World Traveller comfort – in addition to enhancements made in 2019, customers travelling in the airline’s economy cabin will experience refreshed bedding.

7. Designed by Savile Row tailoring expert Ozwald Boateng OBE, new uniforms for a new decade will be revealed.

8. Food for thought – the airline is introducing new menus across its network thanks to new partnerships with gourmet caterers Do&Co at Heathrow and Newrest at Gatwick.

9. Lounge luxury – the airline’s lounges at Heathrow, Edinburgh and Berlin will be refreshed to ensure customers are relaxed ahead of their flights. The Elemis Spa at JFK will also be re-designed and re-launched.

10. Connectivity – the majority of eligible aircraft will be WiFi ready by the end of 2020.

11. BA.com – expect a newly re-designed Manage My Booking experience enabling customers to navigate to information and services in a more intuitive way.

12. Appy days – customers using the British Airways’ app will benefit from a slicker design and additional functionality improving the experience as they make and manage their bookings.

13. Robots – British Airways is trialling new autonomous wayfaring robots at Heathrow to help customers navigate through the airport.

14. 3D printing – the airline’s tech experts will continue their trial of printing non-essential aircraft parts like tray tables, to ensure flights are able to depart on time and without seats going out of service.

15. Concorde – British Airways Premier Card and Gold Guest List Executive Club members will be looked after by new Concorde teams when they travel through Los Angeles, New York JFK, London Heathrow, Delhi, Los Angeles and Mumbai.

16. Customer service training – thousands of British Airways’ airport hosts worldwide will receive additional training to provide a service that goes above and beyond expectations.

17. Executive Club – the airline has committed to making continuous improvements to the Executive Club with new partners and exciting deals throughout the year

18. Flying Start – British Airways celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its Flying Start charity which has so far raised more than £24m+ for good causes in the UK and overseas.

19. Internships – from summer, British Airways will become the first UK airline to offer paid summer internships to future aviators.

20. Documentary – customers will have the chance to watch the 2019 documentary about British Airways, British Airways Access All Areas, 24/7 on board long-haul flights.

British Airways aircraft photo gallery (Boeing):

British Airways has made this announcement:

British Airways trials robots at Heathrow Terminal 5

British Airways has made this announcement:

Flights to the Basque region of Spain are set to take off next summer when British Airways launches a new route to San Sebastián.

It’s the first time flights to the resort town in the Bay of Biscay will operate from London City Airport with British Airways’ twice-weekly service through the peak summer months from July to September.

The airline will serve five Spanish destinations direct from the Docklands next summer.

San Sebastián is renowned for its picturesque beaches, waterfront promenade and cobblestone old town.  It has world-renowned restaurants and is famous for having the highest concentration of bars in the world.

British Airways is making further changes to its schedule from London City next summer with additional flights to Berlin, Florence, Glasgow, Manchester and Nice. There will be some frequency reductions to Geneva, Ibiza and Rotterdam.

British Airways is also launching a new summer-only service from Glasgow to Palma de Mallorca next year.  From the end of May there will be a weekly flight on Saturdays departing from Glasgow at 2.45pm, with the return from Palma at 7.50pm.

There will also be an extra weekly flight from Stanstead to Florence, Italy, from May 3.

• London City to San Sebastián timetable:Flight No          Depart             Arrive              Days

  BA7335           9.10am             12.10pm            Fri

  BA73375          9.15am             12.10                Mon

   

• San Sebastián to London City timetable:Flight No          Depart             Arrive              Days

  BA7334           1.30pm             2.25pm             Mon & Fri

British Airways has made this announcement for the rest of the month:

British Airways is warming up for the great Christmas getaway, with more than one million customers flying with the airline over the festive period.

The most popular long-haul destinations are New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Cape Town and this year’s busiest short-haul route is Paris, with many travellers opting to celebrate Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve in the French capital.

More than 210 British Airways flights will take to the skies on December 25 and 721 flights will operate on New Year’s Eve. The airline will deliver over 1.5 million bags across the network from now until December 27.

Customers will be able to enjoy a sky-high festive feast as the airline’s award-winning cabin crew will be serving over 100,000 traditional Christmas dinners which is made up of 450,000 brussels sprouts, 360,000 roast potatoes, and 11,000kgs of turkey. In addition, 135,000 mince pies will also be given out to customers.

The airline is also showcasing its largest ever Christmas themed inflight entertainment channel, that will feature nearly 50 hours of festive films, TV shows and audio. The festive favourites include Home Alone, The Holiday, Elf, Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special and the Nutcracker audio book.

British Airways colleagues will be spreading the holiday cheer, on the ground and in the air, by wearing Christmas jumpers and accessories, decorating aircraft and playing seasonal songs at 35,000 feet.

British Airways has announced it is launching six new European routes from London Heathrow for 2020. With destinations in Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Montenegro and Turkey.

For the first time ever, the airline will fly from Heathrow to the Kosovan and Montenegrin capitals, Pristina and Podgorica, with both flights departing on Saturdays from July 4 until August 29.

A brand-new route to Perugia in Italy, which is located amongst the spectacular mountains and enchanting hill-towns of Umbria will also launch next summer. Flights will depart on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from July 2 through to August 31.

Turkish coastal towns, Dalaman and Bodrum (below) are added back on to British Airways’ Heathrow route map. Flights will depart on Saturdays from May 23 through to October 24.

These flights will join a new summer service between London Gatwick and Antalya that takes off from April 30, 2020. Customers will also have the choice of two London airports when flying to Dalaman as the airline already operates a weekly service from Gatwick.

The Greek island of Rhodes (below). The Saturday service will commence on July 4 and run until August 29.

British Airways is also launching a new two-per-week service from Gatwick to the Greek island of Corfu from May 1 until October 23, 2020.

The airline is also increasing the frequency of 16 popular short haul routes from Heathrow, including popular holiday destinations such as; Larnaca, Brindisi, Nice, Ibiza, Tenerife, Split, Olbia, Kefalonia and Preveza.

(Picture by Nick Morrish/British Airways)

British Airways has made a multi-million pound investment in its catering on flights from London Gatwick, with reimagined and improved food across its short- and long-haul cabins.

Now available on all flights, the catering brings in new menus featuring new dishes and recipes as part of the airline’s £6.5bn investment for customers. The new food has a focus on provenance with the provider, Newrest, working closely with suppliers in the south of England to source the best quality ingredients.

Customers can enjoy the benefits across all long-haul cabins – World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premium economy), Club World (business) and First – as well as Club Europe (business) on short-haul.  A range of Marks & Spencer products continue to be on offer to Euro Traveller customers.

Menus vary based on route and cabin, samples include:

• Club Europe main courses
  • Hampshire ChalkStream trout gremolata, roasted new potatoes, fennel and dill sauce
  • Poached free-range egg, grilled halloumi, potato and red onion hash, spiced beans
  • Spinach and ricotta ravioli, cherry tomato sauce, bocconcini, basil pesto
  • Severn and Wye smoked salmon blinis, crème fraîche, keta caviar
  • Seared fillet of cod, lemon and chive linguine, tomato basil sauce
• Club World starters
  • British cured Cumbrian ham, smoked aubergine purée, basil pesto
  • Roasted heirloom winter squash, goat’s curd, caramelised pear, honey and Tewkesbury mustard dressing
• Club World main courses
  • Seared fillet of cod, butter beans with saffron, crispy chorizo, smoked paprika
  • Ale-braised feather blade of British beef, chive mashed potatoes, horseradish dumplings, Chantenay carrots
  • Pan-friend Parmesan polenta, wild mushroom ragoût, wilted greens, savoury walnut granola
• First main courses
  • Onley Oak ribeye steak with vine cherry tomatoes, baby watercress and beef jus
  • Roasted monkfish with tadka dal, pickled carrots, curry leaf and mustard coconut sauce

British Airways flies to more than 70 destinations from Gatwick, offering a variety of routes to suit both business and leisure travellers. As part of its £6.5bn investment, the airline has refreshed its Boeing 777 fleet at London Gatwick with new generation economy (World Traveller) and premium economy (World Traveller Plus) seats. These seats have all new Panasonic inflight entertainment 10” screens in World Traveller and 12” screens in World Traveller Plus, offering four times more choice, including movies, television and audio programmes. British Airways customers can collect Avios on their flights from Gatwick, which can be put towards Reward flights, upgrades, or reducing the cost of future flights through Avios part payment.

British Airways aircraft photo gallery:

British Airways made this announcement:

Photo: British Airways. 3D printing.

British Airways has made this announcement:

• British Airways is extending its First Contact Resolution program to colleagues around the world following a successful roll out at Heathrow
• First Contact Resolution enables staff to assist and resolve any customer issue at the airport rather than refer travelers to Customer Relations teams, saving customers’ time and worry
• The initiative demonstrates the airline’s continued commitment to provide unique British Airways’ customer service

Following the successful launch of British Airways’ First Contact Resolution Program at Heathrow last year, the airline is now rolling the program out across every airport it operates to.  First Contact Resolution empowers airport hosts to use their expertise, initiative and judgment to solve customer queries on the spot, without waiting for management approval. This allows them to provide instant solutions and peace of mind for customers and send fewer issues to Customer Relations colleagues.

All staff worldwide are now being further empowered to use their skills and initiative to do the right thing for any customer at that moment. The worldwide roll out is a direct result of the successful start of the programme at Heathrow – earlier this year British Airways won the title of Best Airline Staff in Europe at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards.

The roll out of First Contact Resolution is a part of British Airways’ £6.5 billion investment in customer experience over five years. This includes taking delivery of 73 new aircraft including A350 and 787s, refurbishing long-haul aircraft with new cabins, introducing new, redesigned lounges, new dining across all cabins, new bedding and amenity kits for First, Club World and World Traveller Plus, best quality onboard WiFi for every aircraft and access to power at every aircraft seat. The airline recently introduced its Club Suite, a new business class seat with direct-aisle access on its A350 aircraft, which is being rolled out across the British Airways’ long-haul fleet.

Photo: British Airways.

British Airways aircraft photo gallery (Boeing):