British Airways to kickstart Sydney-London route in March

British Airways will be kickstarting its Sydney to London route again from March, after a two-year pause due to the pandemic.

The news comes only days after the Australian federal government announced it would reopen to fully vaccinated tourists and visa holders from 21 February.

It will mark the first time the country has fully eased its international border restrictions since these were introduced in March 2020.

The first flight, BA15, is scheduled to land in Sydney on 29 March at 6:10am local time, after departing from London Heathrow on 27 March at 9:25pm.

The returning flight, BA16, will leave Sydney at 3:50pm on 29 March and land in London Heathrow on 30 March at 5:10am.

According to data from ch-aviation, this schedule will operate five times weekly between London Heathrow, Singapore and Sydney, and will increase to a daily service from 1 April.

All services will be operated on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, or a Boeing 777-300(ER), according to the schedule.

“We can’t wait to welcome our customers back on board our Sydney to London flights and we will be honoured to play our part in reuniting families and friends with their loved ones after such a long time apart,” said Noella Ferns, British Airways head of sales, Asia-Pacific.

“The safety of our customers and colleagues has always been at the heart of everything we do. We know some customers won’t have flown for a long time, and we can assure them we have a range of COVID-19 measures in place to provide stress and hassle-free travel.”

While British Airways returns one of its most popular routes in Australia, Qantas is still weighing on whether the flag carrier will be able to begin its popular Perth-London route soon.

Last week, CEO Alan Joyce said the Perth to London route was supposed to kickstart again early this year but is now unsure as Premier Mark McGowan is keeping the borders shut until further notice.

Just yesterday, Western Australia introduced a slew of new COVID-19 protocols, including cutting the quarantine length for international and interstate arrivals to seven days, and increasing its arrivals cap.