British Airways cuts Middle East flights, shifts capacity to Asia and Africa

British Airways said on Thursday it will cut flights to the Middle East when services resume, permanently drop Jeddah as a destination, while adding capacity to India ‌and Africa, ⁠as ⁠heightened regional tensions disrupt schedules and weigh on demand.

The changes follow prolonged disruption after the escalation of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran forced the cancellation of more than 21,000 flights, narrowed an already slim flight corridor for long-haul flights between ⁠Europe and ‌Asia and complicated operations for global air carriers.

The IAG-owned airline, which suspended some ⁠flights when the conflict erupted in late February, plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to one daily flight from July  1, and to cut Riyadh services from two daily flights to one from mid-May.


British Airways is also redeploying freed-up ‌aircraft to add daily flights to Bengaluru and Nairobi, and increase capacity on its Delhi and Hyderabad routes.

"We're ⁠keeping the situation under constant review and are directly in touch with affected customers to offer them a range of options," the airline said.

The schedule changes will apply through the summer season ending October 24, with one Dubai service restarting on October 16. (Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)