British Airways has announced it will stop flying one of its “most important routes”.
The airline said it will suspend flights between the Chinese capital of Beijing and London’s Heathrow airport from 26 October.
It only resumed operations on the route in June 2023, following a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the time, British Airways described London-Beijing as “one of our most important routes”.
The airline did not provide a reason for the suspension.
However, it is one of many Western airlines avoiding Russian airspace, which is adding to flight times, fuel costs and complexity over how they deploy crew and aircraft.
Business travel website Head for Points, which first reported British Airways’ decision, stated: “Why bother when you can send the same plane to the US instead, where demand for premium cabins remains sky-high?
“It is also well publicised that Chinese tourism has not yet returned en masse post-pandemic.”
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We will be pausing our route to Beijing from 26 October, and we’re contacting any affected customers with rebooking options or to offer them a full refund.
“We continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.”
It comes as more airlines are grounding flights to and from Israel, Jordan and Lebanon as tension in the Middle East grows.
Wizz Air has suspended all its flights to and from Israel and Jordan “due to the escalating situation in the region”.
Departures from Luton to Israel’s main airport, Tel Aviv, are currently suspended, along with a range of links from Continental Europe.
British Airways, which had been operating via Larnaca in Cyprus, has also suspended flights from London Heathrow.
Aegean Airlines, Air India, Austrian Airlines, Delta, Iberia, LOT of Poland, Lufthansa, Swiss and United Airlines have suspended operations from their hubs.
El Al, though, is continuing operations as normal. The Israeli national airline says: “All flights are departing on schedule.”
Ryanair is also flying in and out of Tel Aviv, though the airline is keeping the situation under review.
To Amman in Jordan, Austrian Airlines and United have cancelled flights from Vienna and Washington DC respectively. But Royal Jordanian and British Airways are continuing to fly to and from London.
