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

Credit: Shutterstock

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.

BA From Heathrow To Santiago

Credit: Flightradar24

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.

Related

A New Era: Emirates’ First-Ever Airbus A350 Flight Touches Down In London

The UK’s second-busiest airport welcomes the Gulf giant’s latest aircraft type, with premium economy available for the first time.

BA Had A 90% Load Factor In 2024

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

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.