British Airways (BA) will suspend flights from London, UK to Beijing, China in October following the longer flight times and increased costs that airlines have faced since the Russian airspace ban.
The Heathrow Airport-hubbed airline said in a statement that it would "pause" its flights to Beijing from October 26 until an unspecified date in November, but intends to keep its schedule under review.
BA confirmed longer flight times following the Russian airspace ban were having an impact on the business, but declined to comment on the potential impact of the decision on air cargo.
However, the airline hasn't stopped flights to China altogether. It confirmed: "We continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong."
Airlines have faced increased costs since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, when airspace sanctions imposed by Russia prohibited most European carriers from entering Russian airspace. At the same time, the EU banned Russian aircraft from entering its airspace.
The war and subsequent sanctions have forced airlines to use alternative routes to avoid Russia and Ukraine, resulting in longer flight times to China as well as increased costs, for example because of the larger volume of fuel required.
Air Cargo News' sister publication FlightGlobal noted that BA's Beijing Daxing (PKX) service now typically operates via the Black Sea, Central Asia and Kazakhstan – a route which takes around one hour longer than using Russian airspace.
Competing operators Air China and China Southern Airlines are able to use Russian airspace to reduce the London-Beijing flight duration, giving them an advantage over the UK-based Oneworld alliance carrier.
Air China is a Star Alliance member while China Southern, formerly of SkyTeam, has formed closer ties with Oneworld operators and has a joint-business arrangement with BA through which passengers can book codeshared flights with either airline.
BA is not the only airline to cut flights to China. Virgin Atlantic said last month it would end its Heathrow-Shanghai route in October due to "significant challenges and complexities on this route".
Virgin has also opted not to continue its Hong Kong service due to the elongated route.
Although, while BA is still operating flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong, Virgin will no longer fly to China at all as it has no other routes to China in its network.
