As 2026 is almost here, it is worth examining 
British Airways’ changing network from 
London Heathrow. Currently, three destinations, new and returning, are due to begin: Guernsey, St. Louis, and Tivat. However, other places may be added.
It is rarely all good news. Usually, routes are cut, too. In 2026, it’ll cease flying to Cologne, Riga, and Stuttgart. They add to multiple cessations in 2025: Bilbao (only temporarily served), Grenoble, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir, and Kuwait.
St. Louis Flights Start In 4 Months
On April 19, BA will take off from Heathrow to St. Louis. It is influenced by the high-yielding nature of this market and the 800+ daily round-trip passengers who fly from the city to Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. Unsurprisingly, Heathrow was St. Louis’ largest unserved long-haul market.
The seasonal route will operate four times a week on the 204-seat Boeing 787-8. This is the 
oneworld member’s lowest-capacity widebody, featuring new Club Suites. As with many new long-haul routes, BA is heavily incentivized to begin this new service.
The appeal of St. Louis seems quite clear. St. Louis’s metro area has over three million people, is the HQ of multiple Fortune 500 companies, has a GDP of $227 billion in 2023, and has had the US’s fastest-growing GDP per person in the past few years. All these things will help to fill the new seats in its premium cabins, which will be critical to the route’s success.
2 Short-Haul Routes Start Next Summer
On the same day as St. Louis flights begin, BA will inaugurate service to Guernsey. It is, in fact, a resumption, as the carrier last served the airport pair 45 years ago, although BA CityFlyer had Gatwick-Guernsey flights until 2003. Flybe’s heavily subsidized Heathrow-Guernsey operation existed for 12 months until March 2020. Despite the financial help and low-capacity aircraft, it only had a 62% load factor.
At just 148 nautical miles (274 km) each way, Guernsey will be Heathrow’s new second-shortest route after Manchester. BA will fly to the British Crown Dependency of Guernsey daily on the 123-seat Airbus A319, which is the carrier’s lowest-capacity mainline equipment. As it has a middle-of-the-day schedule, it remains to be seen how the route performs.
On May 14, BA will take off to the ever-popular Montenegro destination of Tivat. Flown three times a week, the seasonal route will deploy the 180-seat A320ceo. According to Cirium Diio data, it’ll be the second time that Heathrow-Tivat has been served, as Air Serbia operated between 2004 and 2006. BA’s entry contributes to the UK having by far the most seats to/from Tivat next summer.
These 3 Routes Will End Soon
BA only reintroduced service to Cologne and Riga in 2023. In contrast, Stuttgart has been part of its network for decades, although with far fewer flights nowadays.
All three markets have heavy competition from London. airBaltic serves Riga-Gatwick, while Ryanair runs between Stansted and the Latvian capital. Eurowings serves Heathrow from both Cologne and Stuttgart, while Ryanair flies to Cologne and Karlsruhe (for the broader Stuttgart area) from its Essex base.
|
End Date |
Heathrow To… |
BA’s Operations: December 5-11* |
|---|---|---|
|
March 27 |
Riga |
Four weekly A320 |
|
March 28 |
Cologne |
12 weekly A319/A320 |
|
March 28 |
Stuttgart |
Double daily A319/A320 |
|
* It may be different at other times |
In most cases, BA has the fewest flights. For example, between December 5 and 11, its four weekly departures to Riga are against airBaltic’s ten weekly service to Gatwick and Ryanair’s 17 weekly flights to Stansted. While BA also focuses on connections via Heathrow, it only filled 70% of its Riga seats in the first eight months of 2025. Of course, it’d probably have done even worse with more flights, suggesting it was a suboptimal choice of market in the first place.
