BA to fly Dreamliners to China and India

British Airways will expand its new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners to China and India next year.

The airline has confirmed that it will commence Dreamliner flights to the Indian city of Hyderabad on 30 March 2014, before deploying the fuel-efficient aircraft on its Chengdu route from 5 May. The frequency of flights to the southwest Chinese city will also be increased from three to five per week from this date.

The two new destinations form part of a broader roll out of new destinations using BA’s recently-acquired fleet of B787s and Airbus A380s.

From 1 September 2014, the UK’s national carrier will commence A380 flights to Washington DC. The US capital will become BA’s fourth A380 destination following the Hong Kong and Los Angeles, which launched earlier this year, and Johannesburg, which will commence in February 2014.

In addition to Hyderabad and Chengdu, BA will deploy its Dreamliners on routes to Philadelphia from 5 June and Calgary from 5 July 2014.

Meanwhile, BA’s Tokyo Haneda service will be ramped up from five weekly flights to daily from 6 May next year. Routes to Mexico City and Cape Town will also see extra flights.

“Thanks to the arrival of the new aircraft – the centrepiece of our GBP5 billion (US$8.2bn) investment in improvements for our customers – we’re delivering on our promise to introduce new destinations and an even better schedule,” said Richard Tams, BA’s head of UK & Ireland sales.

“We’re receiving great customer feedback on our new aircraft so we’re delighted to be able to roll them out across more of our network and hope our customers enjoy them on these important Indian, Chinese and American routes. More destinations will follow as we will receive 12 A380s and 24 787s over the next three years.”

BA currently operates four Dreamliners and three A380s. The B787s feature 214 seats in three classes, while the A380s come equipped with 469 seats in four classes.