AUSTIN (KXAN) — British Airways will almost double the number of flights it operates from Austin to London beginning in March 2025.
Currently, the airline operates one flight daily between AUS and London Heathrow. That will increase to 13 flights a week beginning March 31, with daily flights operating Monday-Saturday.
Flights currently leave Austin daily at 6:05 p.m., arriving in London at 9:35 a.m. the following day. The new flight will take off at 10:15 p.m. and arrive in London at 1:40 p.m. the next day.
Return flights will leave London at 4:05 p.m., arriving in Austin at 8:20 p.m., in addition to the existing service which leaves LHR at 11:50 a.m. and arrives at AUS at 4 p.m.
“After 10 years of flights between Austin and London, we’re thrilled to be making it even easier for y’all to hop across the pond,” Neil Chernoff, chief planning and strategy officer for British Airways, said in the announcement.
The airline will use Boeing 787-10 aircraft on the route, also known as the Dreamliner. Planes featured a dual-aisle configuration and are Boeing’s most fuel-efficient aircraft, according to a press release from the airport.
The AUS-LHR route initially launched in March 2014. Flights were canceled for 17 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed in October 2021.
“When British Airways launched this route ten years ago, it put Austin on the map for international travel,” Mayor Kirk Watson said in the release. “Establishing transatlantic service marked a pivotal moment in Austin’s growth as a global destination and connected our city to the world. With this expansion to twice-daily service, we’ll see even more opportunities for our community both in business and tourism. This change strengthens Austin’s global presence and plays a key role in continuing to drive our economy forward.”
The airline faced competition on the route for a while. Fellow British airline Virgin Atlantic launched nonstop service in May 2022, but canceled the route in January 2024, citing a “persistent softening in corporate demand, specifically the tech sector.”
Combined, the two airlines carried almost 250,000 passengers between the two cities in 2023: 191,000 on British Airways and 57,000 on Virgin Atlantic.
In the first seven months of this year, more than 110,000 passengers flew the route with British Airways.