dailynewsnblog
It will not surprise you to learn that 
British Airways is the largest European carrier operating to/from the US. BA carried 7.6 million passengers between December 2024 and November 2025. When US and fifth freedom airlines are considered, the oneworld member transported one in ten Europe-US passengers.
Cirium Diio data shows that BA had 28 routes in the examined period. However, two of them have already ceased to exit: London Gatwick to New York JFK and Gatwick to Las Vegas. The last flights were in October 2025. In both instances, the airline consolidated at London Heathrow, adding more flights to compensate.
BA’s Ten US Routes With The Lowest Load Factors
The UK operator’s average seat factor across all 28 routes was 84.4%. As always, this says little in itself, and it should always be remembered that load factors must not be considered in isolation from other measures. It is just one performance element, and it is always about how it was achieved. Moreover, each figure does not distinguish between cabins. If that data were available, it might tell a very different story.
BA’s load was marginally higher than all airlines flying between Europe and the US (83.0%). It was the 13th-highest result, with some other European network carriers having stronger loads, including TAP Air Portual (87.3%), Air France (86.4%), Iberia (86.0%), KLM (85.9%), and LOT Polish (85.5%). BA was second to Norse Atlantic between the UK and the US (88.8%). The two carriers are radically different, so any comparison should consider this.
Note that all the traffic and load factor information mentioned above and shown in the following table is based on examining the latest data from the US Department of Transportation. All of my articles that analyze such things, including my recent look at Icelandair and Aer Lingus’ performance, use it.
|
Seat Load Factor: December 2024-November 2025* |
Route |
Round-Trip Passengers** |
|---|---|---|
|
69.4% |
Gatwick-Tampa |
141,128 |
|
75.9% |
Gatwick-Las Vegas |
41,043 (this route has now ended) |
|
76.4% |
Heathrow-Atlanta |
126,866 |
|
77.6% |
Heathrow-Washington Dulles |
414,646 |
|
77.8% |
Heathrow-Dallas/Fort Worth |
84,353 (BA operated until March 2025 and returned in October) |
|
77.9% |
Heathrow-Houston Intercontinental |
238,041 |
|
80.7% |
Heathrow-Denver |
180,034 |
|
81.1% |
Gatwick-Orlando |
299,798 |
|
81.1% |
Heathrow-New Orleans |
88,128 |
|
82.7% |
Heathrow-Baltimore |
148,222 |
|
* According to the US DOT |
** According to the US DOT |
Gatwick-Tampa Had The Lowest Result
BA has served Tampa since 1985, with the route inherited from British Caledonia. For most of the past 41 years, BA has had nonstop flights from London to itself. However, other operators have entered the market, which is broadly very leisure, such as FlyGlobespan, Norwegian, and Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin began Heathrow-Tampa flights in 2022, and this route continues today. This is partly why BA’s Gatwick-Tampa offering is its lowest-performing US route in this sense. It might not have been in other senses, so do not read too much into it.
BA’s low load of 69.4% was despite having a sub-daily frequency at quieter times of the examined period. For example, it only operated five times weekly in February 2025, yet filled just 52.3% of seats. Despite Virgin’s onward connectivity at Heathrow, its result that month was hardly better (58.1%). Will changes materialize?
17 Hours Nonstop: Air Canada Doubles Flights On This Ultra-Long-Haul Route
The carrier will now have two daily flights on this very long route, but there’s a big twist…
Atlanta Had The Lowest Load From Heathrow
With 76.4% of seats filled, down eight percentage points compared to BA’s US average, Atlanta was the carrier’s worst-performing route in terms of load factor. In the examined period, BA operated daily on the 777-200LR, which continues through 2026.
Of course, given Atlanta is a SkyTeam hub and Delta and close partner Virgin have four daily flights from Heathrow, BA will inevitably find it hard to compete with its daily offering. It also does not have any of the transfer traffic through Atlanta. This helps to explain Delta’s much higher load of 85.7%, with the carrier’s much higher frequency also appealing significantly to the point-to-point passengers, many of whom originate in the US.
Booking data suggests that BA only has a fifth of the nonstop market, far behind Delta but also Virgin. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of BA’s traffic is not point-to-point but connecting to another flight at Heathrow, with India being the largest country market. Unlike most of BA’s US routes from Heathrow, this market relies disproportionately on lower-yielding transfer traffic. The carrier now has even more competition to India, as Etihad started Atlanta flights last July.
