Unusual? British Airways Adds New Very Short London Heathrow Route

British Airways will fly from London Heathrow to Guernsey. It last did so 45 years ago, in 1980. The airport pair has seen various other carriers over the years, including Air UK in the 1980s/1990s and Flybe, which operated for 12 months until March 2020. Elsewhere, BA CityFlyer also flew from London Gatwick to Guernsey until 2003. Of course, Aurigny already serves Guernsey to Gatwick and London City, although the latter route is at risk from BA’s entry.

According to the BBC, Flybe received £825,000 in subsidies to temporarily serve Heathrow. The rationale was to add connectivity to/from the UK’s busiest airport and to boost the economic development of the British Crown Dependency of Guernsey. The same source says that Guernsey’s top political committee voted against BA receiving a subsidy. Of course, some financial support is inevitable. After all, BA would not otherwise begin what will be a heavily loss-making service.

BA From Heathrow To Guernsey

The first flight will take off from the UK’s busiest airport on April 19. Based on what was posted by the always-helpful Sean Moulton, the schedule is shown below. It is bound to make my celebratory Weekly Routes article (see the most recent edition).

It is perhaps partly for slot-sitting reasons. Due to Guernsey’s renowned short runway of 4,800 feet (1,463 meters) and to help with higher loads, BA will fly the 123-seat Airbus A319. This is the carrier’s lowest-capacity mainline equipment. BA’s development comes soon after it cut four routes from London, although it has also just added a new service to Tivat.

Guernsey’s middle-of-the-day timings are awful except for visitors to either Guernsey or London and for the small number of people connecting elsewhere. It will not capture many higher-yielding passengers, who will continue to prefer to fly on Aurigny’s early morning/early evening services to/from the island. BA’s rationale is that it would rather not use highly valuable peak slots, which it would have to take from other services.

Flybe served Guernsey-Heathrow between March 2019 and March 2020 aboard the Dash 8 Q400. Flights left the Channel Islands in the mid-afternoon and departed from Heathrow in the late afternoon. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, it carried 33,300 round-trip passengers. Unsurprisingly, it was highly seasonal, with 43% more passengers in August than in November. Even with its financial subsidy and pretty low-capacity aircraft, it only filled 62% of seats. How will BA fare with higher-capacity machines and its schedule?

Guernsey-London Will Have Up To 10 Daily Flights

In 2024, the UK CAA shows that this short market had 308,000 round-trip passengers. Ignoring seasonality, there were 844 round-trip passengers daily. Virtually everyone was point-to-point: they only flew between the two places. Three routes existed: Guernsey to City, Gatwick, and Stansted. The latter route launched in April 2024, but only lasted for one season.

When writing on November 21, and certainly subject to change, 66 weekly departures will be available next July, which is higher than at any other point in the past decade. Eight departures will be available on Saturdays, nine on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and ten on the remaining days of the week. Aurigny will have 44 weekly flights to Gatwick (ATR 72) and 15 to City (ATR 72), while BA will run daily from Heathrow (A319).

While subject to change, let’s consider Friday, July 17, 2026. That day, these flights will leave Guernsey for London: 6:40 am to City, 6:55 am to Gatwick, 9:25 am to Gatwick, 10:15 am to Gatwick, 1:40 pm to Gatwick, 1:50 pm to Heathrow, 2:40 pm to Gatwick, 4:45 pm to Gatwick, 5:30 pm to City, and 6:10 pm to Gatwick.

Back to the British Crown Dependency, these flights will depart from London: 8:30 am from City, 8:35 am from Gatwick, 11:05 am from Gatwick, 11:55 am from Gatwick, 11:55 am from Heathrow, 3:30 pm from Gatwick, 4:25 pm from Gatwick, 6:25 pm from Gatwick, 7:20 pm from City, and 7:40 pm from Gatwick.

Heathrow’s New 2nd Shortest Route

Covering just 148 nautical miles (274 km) each way, Guernsey is Heathrow’s new second-shortest market. Only flights to Manchester, also operated by BA, cover a shorter distance. It is also shorter than all 16 UK routes that easyJet added on November 20, none of which obviously touch Heathrow. It will become London’s fourth-shortest route by distance, after Heathrow-Manchester, Gatwick-Guernsey, and Gatwick-Jersey.

As usual, it is a bit different for block time. At a minimum of one hour, it is tied with Heathrow to Brussels, Jersey, and Manchester. Several routes from other London airports are also timed at an hour. City to Rotterdam is the shortest service on this basis, with a block time as low as 55 minutes.