British Airways Launches Daily Flights On Jeddah-London Route

British Airways has begun daily flights between Jeddah and London’s Heathrow Airport due to strong demand, the airline said in a statement.

The expansion is part of the carrier’s investment in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East. The airline said that it is introducing a Boeing 777 200 aircraft on the Jeddah-London route.

“British Airways has been serving Saudi Arabia since 1965 and it continues to be a very important country for our airline,” said Keith Williams, executive chairman of British Airways.

“We now operate daily flights from Jeddah as we have thousands of passengers in Saudi Arabia who choose to fly with British Airways to London Heathrow, North America and beyond. We believe there is huge potential to grow our offering further.”

He added that the airline is investing around five billion GBP ($8.3 billion) in revamping its services, which includes smarter cabins and new technologies. The new redesigned first class cabin will also be available to passengers travelling to and from Jeddah, the statement said.

Currently British Airways offers daily flights from Riyadh into London Heathrow. Across the GCC, the airline operates a total of 63 flights each week from eight cities in six countries.

British Airways has increased the number of flights from the Middle East to London Heathrow by 40 per cent in the last five years owing to continued demand from customers in the region.

Many airlines have increased their flight frequency on routes between Jeddah and the UK owing to a growth in demand.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), the national carrier of the Kingdom, announced earlier this year that it will restart flights from Jeddah to Manchester.

The airline resumed services to Manchester from March 28, after a seven-year gap and will fly thrice a week to the city.

Saudia said that it expected to attract a mixture of leisure and business travellers as it looks to tap into northwest England’s Muslim community travelling for their pilgrimage to the Kingdom.