British Airways has revealed some of the most popular holiday destinations for travellers this summer – one of the busiest ever with the airline reported to have carried over four million customers across its network in August alone.
The list of top destinations includes long-haul destinations such as New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Short-haul destinations like Malaga, Nice, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Glasgow are also featured in the list of hotspots for UK holidaymakers over this past summer break.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances, said: ‘This year British Airways is offering its largest network schedule for 10 years, with flights to 211 destinations across more than 75 countries. Next year we’re confident new additions to the British Airways route map like Pittsburgh and Nashville, alongside Santiago, where we’ve recently increased the number of weekly flights, will be among our most popular destinations, as well as some of the traditional hotspots we’ve seen this year.’
The airline also said that customers were into the holiday spirit more than ever this year, with 212,000 bottles of wine consumed across all British Airways flights in July, up three per cent on last year. Meanwhile, those in Club Europe or Club World and First consumed 105,000 bottles of Champagne, up five per cent. British Airways also allows customers to pre-order from a range of 13 complimentary special meals for specific dietary requirements. While nearly 37,000 ordered were vegan meals – up 32 per cent on the same period last year, nearly 5,000 meals were low-calorie, it said.
With flights available 355 days in advance, customers can now begin planning their next summer getaway, the airline said. British Airways is now on a £4.5bn investment plan for customer service improvements, which includes new catering in Club World (long-haul business class) and World Traveller (long-haul economy) as well as refreshed lounges.
British Airways Holidays also recommends some of its most popular hotels in each destination including the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore, Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa in Los Angeles, and Le Meridien in Nice.