British Airways, Lufthansa add Asia flights amid high demand

[LONDON] British Airways (BA) and Deutsche Lufthansa are adding flights to Asia and Africa amid increased long-haul demand as customers seek alternatives to Middle East carriers hamstrung by airspace closures at home.

BA will operate more flights from London to Singapore and Bangkok this week, using aircraft that are currently not needed in the Gulf region. The airline has temporarily cut back its Middle East schedule, cancelling all Abu Dhabi flights until at least October and stopping flights to cities including Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv until later this month, according to a statement on Tuesday (Mar 10).

Lufthansa will add flights at short notice from Germany to Singapore, Cape Town and Riyadh, it said earlier. Its Austrian Airlines subsidiary has already arranged 10 special return flights from Vienna to Bangkok.

Air France-KLM has deployed bigger jets on flights from a number of cities in Asia, including Tokyo, Shanghai and Mumbai, in response to increased demand and flight cancellations by Gulf-based airlines.

More than 43,000 flights scheduled in and out of the Middle East were cancelled between Feb 28 and Mar 10, according to data from analytics firm Cirium.

The dislocations caused by the war in Iran and the ensuing airspace disruptions are providing European airlines with a rare chance to claw back some business lost to the likes of Emirates or Qatar Airways, which have long syphoned off passengers by providing convenient transfer options in Dubai and Doha.

“This is understandable opportunism by European carriers,” said John Strickland, an aviation analyst at JLS Consulting. “If you have planes sitting spare, then it’s logical to try to redeploy them and take the opportunity.”

Lufthansa has been among the most vocal airlines seeking government support to stave off an even bigger incursion into its home market. Emirates has plans to add flights between Berlin and Dubai, Bloomberg has reported, a move that would put Lufthansa’s lucrative Asian destinations in peril.

Europe’s smaller airlines are also taking note. Norse Atlantic Airways has added two flights between London and Bangkok, a spokesman said.

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During the past few years, European airlines have thinned out their offerings to parts of Asia, hurt by their inability to fly over Russian airspace, a corridor that the likes of Emirates still use, and the higher fuel costs that come with longer routes.

Africa, while a much smaller aviation market than other global regions, has also become a main focal point for Middle Eastern carriers as well as Turkish Airlines, which serves multiple locations on the continent. BLOOMBERG