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British Airways is the world’s fifth-largest long-haul operator by the number of flights. Only United Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Delta Air Lines have more such services. Between now and the end of October, BA has an average of 95 daily long-haul departures from London, up from 91 year-over-year.
When all carriers are considered, BA is the leading long-haul operator serving Europe. Funnily enough, United is second, followed by Air France, Turkish Airlines, and Delta. Lufthansa is sixth. All of these findings are from exploring every carrier’s latest schedule submission to Cirium Diio.
BA’s Ten Longest Nonstop Flights From London
They are summarized below, with only nonstop flights included. The order is based on the maximum block time. This is measured as chocks-off-to-chocks-on, and includes taxi time at both airports, the flight time, and a period for short delays. Unsurprisingly, the carrier’s new service to St. Louis and returning flights from Heathrow to Orlando were nowhere near long enough to have featured.
London Heathrow to Santiago, Chile, continues to rank first; more on that route later in the article. Some of the entries from Northeast Asia back to the UK’s busiest airport continue to reflect significant detours that must be made to avoid Russian airspace. Obviously, this has many consequences, including on time, fuel burn, competitiveness, etc. For example, Shanghai Pudong back to Heathrow is timed at up to 15h 00m. Before the war, it was timed at no more than 13h 05m.
Max. Block Time* | Direction Of Route With That Time | BA’s Operations (February-October 2026 Only)** |
|---|---|---|
15h 35m | Heathrow to Santiago | Three to four weekly 787-9 |
15h 00m | Shanghai Pudong back to Heathrow | Daily 777-200ER/787-9 |
15h 00m | Tokyo Haneda back to Heathrow | Up to two daily A350-1000/787-9 |
14h 50m | Hong Kong back to Heathrow | Daily A350-1000 (the A380 has long gone) |
14h 40m | Singapore back to Heathrow | Two daily 777-300ER/787-9; one flight continues to Sydney (the A380 was last used in 2025) |
14h 05m | Kuala Lumpur back to Heathrow | Daily 787-9 (AirAsia X is returning to London this year) |
13h 20m | Bangkok Suvarnabhumi back to Gatwick | Up to six weekly 777-200ER (Gatwick-configured equipment) |
12h 35m | Mauritius back to Gatwick | Three weekly 777-200ER (Gatwick-configured equipment) |
12h 10m | Cape Town back to Heathrow | Up to 10 weekly A350-1000/777-300ER/777-200ER/787-9 |
12h 00m | Heathrow to Mexico City | Daily 787-9 |
* Even if only once | ** Known as of February 10, and subject to change. The range of the frequencies is across the whole period examined |
BA From Heathrow To Santiago
The oneworld member has a reasonably long history of serving Santiago. For example, one-stop service existed via Buenos Aires between 1993 and the millennium, usually on the 747-400. However, no services from the UK to Chile operated between 2001 and 2016. Most people flew via São Paulo or Madrid.
BA returned to Santiago in 2017, but on a nonstop basis for the first time using the 787-9. Influenced by Chile’s fast-growing economy, it was the first time the UK had ever had nonstop flights to the South American nation. Until 2017, BA was exclusively using codeshare partners, especially sister carrier Iberia, to capture traffic between the two nations.
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BA Had A 90% Load Factor In 2024
According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, BA carried 79,964 round-trip passengers to/from Santiago in 2024. As the airline had 88,560 available seats, the long route achieved a strong seat load factor of 90%. As always, this is just one performance measure, and should not be considered in isolation. Still, it is highly likely that fares and yields were decent, too.
Booking data suggests that approximately 37,000 of the nearly 80,000 passengers were local; they only flew between Heathrow and Chile. This meant BA had just over half of the point-to-point market. The majority of travelers connected to another flight at the UK’s busiest airport. Funnily enough, Shanghai was the top market; more people flew on BA’s longest and second-longest routes than anywhere else. Madrid was second, followed by Istanbul, Barcelona, and Rome.
