British Airways has recently announced that all its direct flights to and from Heathrow and Beijing will move to the new Daxing airport from October 27, 2019.
British Airways is the first international airline to move all operations to Beijing Daxing, in recognition of the increasing travel between China and the UK.
The new airport is around 50km from both Beijing city centre and the Xiong’an New Area and around 80km from Tianjin. With over 52,000 square metres available for retail, food and beverage and services, Beijing Daxing boasts over 300 shops and restaurants and a brand-new partner lounge.
Noella Ferns, British Airways’ Executive Vice President in Greater China and the Philippines, said: ‘We are very excited to be moving to Beijing Daxing. Not only will the new airport offer our customers flying to and from Beijing a world-class experience, with state-of-the-art facilities including an improved lounge for our Club World and First customers; but it will also support our ambition to increase leisure and business travel between China and the UK.’
Beijing Daxing is set to open in September 2019, and will initially house four runways and one terminal building. The London to Beijing route will continue as a daily service, operated by a Boeing 787-9 in the winter and a Boeing 777-300 in the summer, with four cabins: First, Club World (business class), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy). Return fares will start from £387 for World Traveller, £758 for World Traveller Plus, £1,899 for Club World and £2,199 for First. Customers who choose to cut the cost of flights, by using Avios part payment, could pay £187 plus 39,000 Avios. The airport move will also help British Airways to strengthen and develop its network through its code-share agreement with China Southern Airlines, which will also be based at the new airport. British Airways and China Southern Airlines launched a code-share agreement across 10 routes in 2017. In January 2019, the airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand the agreement on each other’s networks and implement reciprocal frequent flyer benefits, British Airways said in its release. on; \lsds
