British Airways is set to take off for Melbourne, Australia from January next year. This marks the first time the carrier has served the city after 20 years. The route will operate daily via Kuala Lumpur and will touch down at Melbourne Airport(MEL) just in time for the Australian Open (Tennis) and Melbourne Grand Prix. This service will complement the carrier’s existing Australian service to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD).

British Airways is excited to add a second destination in Australia to its network as part of a wider network expansion. Other new routes announced today include a non-stop service to Colombo, and capacity expansion on services to South Africa, Japan, St Lucia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, India, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

British Airways Says G’Day To Melbourne

Credit: British Airways

British Airways will deploy its Boeing 787-9 on the service to Melbourne, which will see a stopover en route at Kuala Lumpur International Airport(KUL). The airline’s other daily service to Sydney stops over in Singapore for its journey to Australia’s biggest city. The new route, which was announced today, has tickets planned to go on sale from late March.

The decision to launch a new service to Melbourne comes at a time when growing tension in the Middle East has seen airlines reconsider operations and look at alternative markets to serve. This announcement sees BA expand its long-haul network by 9%. Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, explains:

“We’re delighted to announce sizeable growth to our flying schedule for winter 2026, including two notable new destinations that I’m confident will prove popular with our customers. We’re also increasing services across several high-demand routes around the world.”

Melbourne: The Gateway To The Great Ocean Road

Credit: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Melbourne is a large city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the airport will celebrate yet another new route announcement for a growing list already set to take off in the next year. The airline will become the third European carrier at MEL, following Turkish Airlines (to Istanbul via Singapore), and Finnair (Helsinki via Bangkok) – the latter set to commence later this year.

As the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, Melbourne has a bustling downtown and beach scene, with plenty of great eateries, shopping, and other cultural hotspots. Beyond the city’s hustle and bustle, Melbourne is also the gateway to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians National Park. The airline will follow the schedule below:

This route will be an extension of the carrier’s existing London Heathrow (LHR) to Kuala Lumpur service. The 787-9 will offer four classes of service, including World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premium economy), Club World (business class), and First.

Related

The 9 Longest Routes At Melbourne Airport

The longest route from Melbourne International Airport is almost 9,000 miles long.

The Sky’s The Limit At Melbourne Airport

Credit: Cairns Airport

Melbourne’s network map continues to go from strength to strength, with British Airways joining several other airlines that are expanding their reach to the Australian city. This year alone, Finnair will commence services on October 26, while Indonesia AirAsia will debut at Melbourne from Bali on March 20.

Other new services will see Jetstar launch its first international route between Australia and Sri Lanka, becoming the first low-cost carrier to connect the two cities. The new service to Bandaranaike International Colombo Airport(CMB) will take off from August 25, just as SriLankan Airlines will also boost its schedule to the city, increasing from a daily service to ten weekly from August 2.

Maldivian will also connect Male and Melbourne with charter services through a partnership with Luxury Escapes. This unique route will be offered for those booking via the online travel agent’s platform, and will take off from May 17. Last year, more than 36 million travelers passed through Melbourne Airport, with 11 million of those traveling internationally.