Summary
- British Airways has cut eight US and territory destinations since 1990.
- They are Anchorage, Charleston, Charlotte, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Oakland, San Jose, and San Juan.
- San Jose was the most recently served (2023), and Anchorage was linked until 32 years ago (1992).
British Airways is the largest foreign long-haul airline serving the US. In 2024, it has 28 routes to the country from London Heathrow and London Gatwick involving 26 US airports. It has an average of 47 daily departures in the summer and 44 until the end of the year. Inevitably, it gets a lot of attention for its activity scale and network breadth.
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Which airlines do you think made the cut?
Gone: US airports cut since 1990
For this, I have examined the oneworld member’s schedule using data from the US Department of Transportation, Cirium, and OAG. I have compared its network between July 2024 and March 2025 to that offered from January 1990 to June 2024.
Image: GCMap
Doing so reveals that eight US airports (including in the US territory of Puerto Rico) no longer see its metal. Of course, most of them (except Oakland) are reachable with fellow oneworld airline and transatlantic joint venture partner American. If passengers want to fly to Oakland rather than San Francisco, they can connect with Alaska Airlines through its enhanced BA partnership. Transatlantic JV partner Iberia also serves San Juan.
Anchorage, Charleston, and Charlotte…
Anchorage was inherited from the BOAC days. BA used 747s from Heathrow to Tokyo and Osaka via Anchorage; many people got off in Alaska, including those traveling for oil reasons. It ceased flying to Anchorage in 1992.
BA only served Heathrow-Charleston on the 787-8 in summer 2019. Given that it has not returned post-COVID – and that there has been minimal external discussion about it – it must not have performed sufficiently in its first and only season, given other opportunities with the Heathrow slots and equipment.
Photo: British Airways
BA flew between Gatwick and Charlotte from 1994 to 2002, a year after the horrendous attacks in 2001. Flights were on the 767 and 777, and in the last few years, it stopped in Baltimore in both directions (clearly reducing the appeal).
The North Carolina airport was presumably served due to the USAir-BA partnership; Charlotte was one of its hubs. Charlotte-London was initially served by Piedmont and then USAir (later US Airways). Today, American has triple daily Heathrow flights.
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Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, and Oakland…
Like Anchorage, Detroit was inherited from BOAC. It operated for 50+ years. Looking at 1990+, some BA flights stopped in Montreal, while others continued to Houston. Detroit flights were variously on the 747, 767, and 777. The photo below, of a 747-100, was taken in Detroit in 1999.
Photo: John F. Zielinski
BA ceased flying to the Michigan airport in 2008. This was the year US-EU open skies began, which enabled Northwest to fly to Heathrow for the first time, including from its Detroit hub. The route is, of course, now in Delta’s hands.
Until the EU-US open skies took effect, the Bermuda II agreement meant BA could not fly non-stop from Heathrow to Houston; it was relegated to Gatwick. BA often served Detroit with a stop en route or as a continuation; the local demand must have been insufficient. Falling UK-Detroit demand for automotive-driven business travel did not help.
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There have been significant changes.
Fort Lauderdale and Oakland were quite different. Both materialized as a competitive response to Norwegian. BA served Fort Lauderdale from Gatwick on the 777 from 2017 to 2019 (the following photo was of the launch).
Norwegian served the airport pair from 2014 to 2019, but lower yields, less awareness, and BA’s entry meant it shifted to Miami. Naturally, BA ended its Fort Lauderdale flights shortly afterward to concentrate on Miami. (Norse briefly few Gatwick-Fort Lauderdale in 2023.)
Photo: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Oakland was similar. BA served the California airport across from San Francisco on the 777 between 2017 and 2018. Norwegian flew there between 2016 and 2019 and then switched to San Francisco. BA returned to focusing on its Heathrow-San Fran flights.
San Jose and San Juan
BA flew from Heathrow to San Jose, California, in two stages: 2016 to 2020 and 2022 to 2023. San Jose, not far from San Francisco, always used the 787-8/787-9. However, the airport, which serves Silicon Valley and more, was to have seen BA’s 747-400s in 2020. Alas, COVID-19 put paid to that.
Finally, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was part of BA’s Gatwick network from 2011 to 2013. All flights were on the 777 and operated via Antigua in both directions. In the final year, San Juan was only served weekly (!). Norwegian flew Gatwick-San Juan non-stop between 2015 and 2017.