British Airways confirms A380 plans as part of winter expansion

SuperJumbo will be used to shuttle on the short hops from London Heathrow to Frankfurt and Madrid

Giant leap: British Airways Airbus A380 on final approach into London Heathrow (Nick Morrish/British Airways)

British Airways has revealed more details of its winter plans – including returning its Airbus A380 aircraft to the skies.

The airline has confirmed speculation that the “SuperJumbo” will resume services in November, though using only four of the 12 A380s in its fleet. All have been in storage since March 2020.

From November the Airbus jet will shuttle between London Heathrow and European destinations “to allow for crew service familiarisation”.

The first flight will depart from London Heathrow to Frankfurt at 7.10am on 8 November, returning the same morning. In the afternoon an Airbus A380 will depart from Heathrow to Madrid at 3.15pm. Economy one-way fares are currently £65 to Frankfurt and £80 to Madrid.

In December A380s will be deployed to and from Miami and Los Angeles in the US, as well as Dubai in the UAE.

Plans to fly the jet to Dallas-Fort Worth have not materialised.

The White House has said that British visitors will be able to travel to the US in November for the first time since March 2020 – but has yet to specify a date. Airlines are loathe to add extra flights until they know the timing.

BA is expanding flights to the US, increasing the London-New York frequency to up to eight daily services by December. The Independent has found fares of £329 return from Heathrow to either New York JFK or Newark in late November/early December.

The airline plans to serve 23 US airports this winter.

Double-daily services are planned to resume to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas, and Miami. In addition, BA will gradually restart services to Austin, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Nashville and New Orleans.

In total, British Airways says it will offer up to 246 UK-US flights a week during the winter, more than any other transatlantic carrier.

“Route launch dates are subject to move, depending on the dates that the US borders reopen,” British Airways says.

For Christmas, BA is adding extra services to the Maldives, Mauritius and Caribbean islands.

Virgin Atlantic has some very low winter fares for its transatlantic flights, with New York available for £321 return; Miami for £331; and Los Angeles for £339.

Tickets from Manchester to LA are selling at £400 return.