British Airways is reportedly planning to deploy the Airbus A350-1000 on its London Heathrow to Nashville route, replacing the Boeing 777-200ER currently assigned. Ishrion Aviation is reporting on X that the change will occur on March 29, 2026, and the changes appear to be throughout the entirety of the summer season.
British Airways is growing its A350-1000 fleet, and it also has a substantial number of Boeing 787-10s and 777-9s on order. The Boeing 777-200ER is the backbone of the British Airways fleet, but it’s slowly becoming sidelined in favor of more modern widebody airliners. Not only are the newer planes on order more efficient, but they’re larger too. What British Airways is doing here, then, is upgauging.
The Changes Coming To Nashville
British Airways currently operates daily service between London-Heathrow and Nashville International Airport year-round. During the winter, flights use the Boeing 787-8, while the Boeing 777-200ER has been flown during the summer season. Beginning March 29, however, the route will transition to using the Airbus A350-1000, replacing the 777-200ER. No word has been given on whether the 787-8 will return on this route during the winter.
British Airways uses the flight number BA223 for the outbound flight and BA222 for the return. Flight times are scheduled for nine hours 10 minutes for BA223 and eight hours 10 minutes for BA222. These are unchanged from what they were before, but the Airbus A350 cruises slightly faster than the Boeing 777, so actual flight times may go down slightly depending on conditions.
British Airways has developed a robust network in the United States, not just connecting all of America’s major cities to Europe, but serving more secondary destinations than practically any other European airline. While Nashville is not an American Airlines or Alaska Airlines hub, London is the largest city in Europe and, as such, has substantial travel demand from virtually anywhere in the US.
The Airbus A350-1000 Vs The Boeing 777-200ER
Until now, British Airways has been flying the Boeing 777-200ER from London-Heathrow to Nashville during the summer. All of the carrier’s Heathrow-based 777-200ERs are equipped with Club Suites, and British Airways flew its three-class 777-200ERs to Nashville. Data from aeroLOPA shows that these aircraft feature 48 Club Suites, 40 World Traveller Plus seats, and 184 World Traveller seats, for a total of 272 seats.
The Airbus A350-1000 fleet features the same seat models as the 777-200ER, including the Collins Aerospace Vector seats with doors for Club Suites. Data from aeroLOPA shows that these aircraft feature 56 Club Suites, 56 World Traveller Plus seats, and 219 World Traveller seats for a total of 331 seats, a 59-seat increase over the 777-200ER.
|
Aircraft |
Club Suites |
World Traveller Plus |
World Traveller |
Total Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boeing 777-200ER |
48 |
40 |
184 |
272 |
|
Airbus A350-1000 |
56 |
56 |
219 |
331 |
British Airways is also in the process of retrofitting the Boeing 787-8 fleet with Club Suites. However, it does not yet deploy the retrofitted Dreamliners to Nashville, meaning that business class passengers traveling to Nashville during the winter still receive the old Club World seats, configured seven-abreast on the Dreamliner.
What This Means For Passengers And BA
The upgauge to the Airbus A350-1000 shows that British Airways sees strong demand and high yields on this route. This aircraft is meant to directly upgauge current 777-200ER routes, given the similarities in their configurations, and British Airways even installs a smaller galley area to fit more seats, at the expense of storage space for long-haul flights.
Passengers will likely see little difference as the two types have the same seat models and the same per-row layout in Club Suites and World Traveller Plus. World Traveller passengers, however, benefit from wider seats as the A350 has one fewer seat per row in economy than the Boeing 777. Additionally, the younger A350 has a quieter interior with a more modern design and lower cabin altitude, although the windows are actually smaller on the A350.
One other benefit of using the A350 for British Airways is cargo capacity. The A350-1000 is comparable in size to the Boeing 777-300ER, and as such, its cargo hold is significantly larger. This is also a short route for the A350, and as such, British Airways has the opportunity to load more freight than before, which can be lucrative.
