British Airways increases frequency on UK to Latin America routes

Despite capacity cutbacks throughout much of the commercial airline industry, British Airways made headlines when it announced that it would expand its London Heathrow to Buenos Aires route. The British flag carrier’s decision to increase its presence in Argentina’s capital city brought applause on the part of the Argentine Tourist Board, which welcomed the move. The newly expanded service to Buenos Aires will take off on October 26th, 2008 and as such, British Airways will offer daily non-direct flights from Heathrow to the largest city in Argentina. BA pointed out that all aircraft carrying passengers on this route would make a mandatory stop in Sao Paulo (Brazil) en route to Buenos Aires.

British Airways seems intent on building up a much more prominent presence in South America, as the carrier has announced that it will also offer three new flights per week from London to Rio de Janeiro. Unlike the route to Buenos Aires, this service will be direct and non-stop. Britain’s flag carrier will use Boeing 777 wide-bodied planes to fly to these destinations and passengers will be able to choose between two cabins, namely economy and business class. In contrast to the Rio de Janeiro route, however, British Airways will use the significantly larger Boeing 747 to fly from London to Sao Paulo, and then on to Buenos Aires.

While British Airways has clearly developed plans to expand in South America, it will face some stiff competition from rival airline TAM in terms of its two Brazilian routes.