4 hours Ago By Jake Hardiman
In conjunction with the start of the 2025 IATA summer schedule, British Airways has relaunched two routes that it had not served in several years. Flying out of its main hub at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), the UK flag carrier and one world founding member has regained connectivity to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) in Malaysia and Shota Rustaveli International Airport (TBS) in Tbilisi, Georgia. These new routes have relatively low base fares to attract passengers, and have been timed to ensure optimal onward connectivity options to and from British Airways' main hub at London Heathrow Airport.
In addition to relaunching these two corridors, the UK flag carrier has also boosted its capacity to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) in Japan, as well as launching three brand-new routes to Italian destinations. First Georgian Flights Since 2013 British Airways' relaunched route from London Heathrow Airport to Tbilisi commenced operations on the evening of March 30th. With the Georgian capital city being located at the eastern extremity of Europe, the outbound flights are just about long enough to operate overnight.
Indeed, BA notes that these services, which operate four times a week, depart at 21:25 and touch down at 05:30 the next day. Returning to the UK, flight BA891 leaves Tbilisi at 07:10 on Wednesdays and 07:30 on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays, touching down at 09:40 and 10:00 local time respectively. According to Cirium , an aviation analytics company, BA's Airbus A320neo flights represent the only direct services from Heathrow to Tbilisi, although easyJet's A320s do serve the Georgian capital city from London Luton Airport (LTN).
Have you noticed a sudden increase or decrease in flights in certain months? Here is why. The Airbus A320neo twinjets that British Airways is deploying on its route from London to Tbilisi are fitted with a flexible two-class configuration that allows for varying business class loads by blocking out the middle seats. The premium cabin is known as Club Europe, with passengers getting " lounge access, a full meal service, priority boarding and additional baggage allowance " for their money.
Returning To Malaysia With Daily Flights Further to the east, British Airways has also resumed its non-stop flights to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which serves the capital city of Malaysia. The first of these new services departed on April 1st, marking the UK flag carrier's first flight on the route for five years. Compared to the return fares on the route to Tbilisi, which start at £244 ($312.
50), BA's Kuala Lumpur returns start at £574 ($735). The UK flag carrier is now serving Kuala Lumpur daily, with the outbound flight (BA33) departing London at 21:10 and touching down in Malaysia at 17:20 the next day. Using four-class Boeing 787-9s, the return leg (BA34) also runs overnight, departing Kuala Lumpur at 22:50 and reaching the UK capital at 05:35 the next day.
Passengers can also book connecting codeshare flights with Malaysia Airlines . "We're delighted to welcome Malaysia and Georgia back to our network, both of which are two key destinations that our customers know and love. Our teams have worked hard to bring these routes firmly back on our route map, meaning customers have more choice when it comes to travel for work or pleasure across Europe, Asia and beyond.
" - Neil Chernoff, British Airways' Chief Planning & Strategy Officer Routes make the world go around. Japanese & Italian Boosts Elsewhere in its Asian long-haul network, British Airways has also started the summer in style by boosting the frequencies on its route from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda Airport. Indeed, the oneworld founding member is now serving the Japanese facility on a twice-daily basis, with these flights being operated by the Airbus A350-1000 and the Boeing 787-9.
JAL and ANA also serve the route. Closer to home, British Airways is looking to boost its presence in the short-haul leisure market this summer with the addition of three new corridors from London to Italy. These corridors will connect Heathrow with Rimini (RMI), Gatwick (LGW) with Salerno (QSR), and London City (LCY) with Olbia (OLB).
The latter of these is already served by BA from Edinburgh (EDI) and Heathrow, underlining its appeal..
