British Airways axes flights to Beijing as it becomes the latest Western Airline to avoid Russian airspace

British Airways has axed its flights to Beijing for at least the next year, the airline announced today.

BA said it will suspend flights between the Chinese capital and London‘s Heathrow airport from October 26 this year until November 2025. The carrier, owned by IAG, said it would continue flying daily to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The airline only resumed operations to Beijing in June 2023, following a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, it described London-Beijing as ‘one of our most important routes’. The airline did not provide a reason for the suspension.

BA is one of many Western airlines avoiding Russian airspace, which is adding to their flight times, fuel costs and complexity over how they deploy crew and aircraft.

British Airways, owned by IAG, said it would continue flying daily to Shanghai and Hong Kong

Business travel website Head for Points, which first reported British Airways’ decision, stated: ‘Why bother when you can send the same plane to the US instead, where demand for premium cabins remains sky-high?

‘It is also well publicised that Chinese tourism has not yet returned en masse post-pandemic.’

A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘We will be pausing our route to Beijing from October 26, and we’re contacting any affected customers with rebooking options or to offer them a full refund.

‘We continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.’

BA did not say whether it would introduce a new route to replace the Beijing one.

Virgin Atlantic also recently announced it would end its route to Shanghai in October. 

Jesse Neugarten, CEO and founder of subscription travel service Dollar Flight Club, told MailOnline that with both BA and Virgin suspending routes to China, flight prices will likely rise.

British Airways will suspend flights between the Chinese capital of Beijing (pictured) and London’s Heathrow airport from October 26 until November 2025

‘We predict that airfare prices for flights to China and other major Asian destinations could increase by 10 to 20 per cent over the next few months from the UK,’ he warned, citing ‘reduce competition’ and ‘limited capacity’.

‘Other airlines might take advantage of this situation, potentially raising their prices as well. So, if you’re planning a trip to Asia, booking sooner rather than later might save you some cash.’

European and British carriers are unable to fly over Russian airspace, which means flying to Asia takes a few hours longer than it used to. That also makes it more expensive and less appealing to customers. 

Traffic from China to Europe has been very slow to recover since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, with many flights on the route now dominated by Chinese carriers. 

Groups such as Lufthansa have said competition from Chinese carriers, which are allowed to fly over Russian airspace, has cut into their earnings, with Lufthansa’s yields falling on routes on which it competes with the carriers.

IAG has said that it is not strongly affected as much of its core business is focused on North and South America, where bookings and demand remain strong.