For obvious reasons, British Airways is comfortably the leading European operator to the US. Through the rest of the year, the oneworld member plans an average of 46 daily departures from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to the nation.
OAG data shows that the US accounts for just over half of BA’s long-haul services (51%). Thanks to the inauguration of service to St. Louis in April 2026, the carrier’s frames will be seen in 27 US airports. Of course, the country is more significant than that. Without so many flights and such a broad network, fewer flights and routes would be available elsewhere that rely on the connectivity.
Inherited from Caledonian Airways, BA has flown to Tampa International Airport (TPA) since 1985, with flights in some of the early years stopping in Bermuda. The route has consistently been served from LGW, covering 3,847 nautical miles (7,125 km) each way. However, as previously reported, the final LGW departure will be on October 24, 2026. The next day, the route will shift to LHR, becoming a brand-new airport pair for the airline (but not a new city pair).
The shift from LGW to LHR is significant. After all, the UK’s second-busiest airport will no longer have any flights to TPA. As well as BA and Caledonian, other airlines, such as FlyGlobespan and Norwegian, have also operated. It also means that LHR-TPA will have two airlines for the first time. BA will join Virgin Atlantic, which has served the market since 2022. Until then, LHR had never had flights to TPA.
It is also important in other ways. In the upcoming winter, BA will now only have one route from LGW to the US, which will be to Orlando International Airport (MCO). Compared to last winter, US flights have dropped by 42%. Excluding the worst of the COVID-19 years, it’ll be the lowest winter offering in over 20 years. Along with other developments, BA’s LHR-US operation will be at a record high.
BA will only fly the type on four routes in the upcoming winter, but that’s not surprising. Find out more here!
BA’s LGW-TPA frequency varied from five weekly flights in the winter to a daily operation in the spring and summer. Obviously, services have been on the so-called LGW-configured Boeing 777-200ER, with 332 to 336 seats in a non-first-class, low-premium, and high-economy configuration.
When the route shifts to LHR, BA will continue to fly five times weekly during the winter, with a daily offering in the spring and summer. However, the 256-seat 787-10 will now be deployed (shown above). This variant has eight first-class suites (1-2-1), along with 48 business seats (1-2-1), 35 premium economy seats (2-3-2; 38″ pitch), and 165 economy seats (3-3-3; 31″ pitch).
The route will become significantly more premium. When flown from LGW, only around 10% of seats were in business. Now, 21% of seats will be in first and business. Clearly, BA must be very confident that it will consistently fill them. And it must, or things will go south quickly.
In 2025, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that BA only filled 69.8% of its LGW-TPA seats. It was by far the carrier’s worst-performing US operation in this sense, and much below the airline’s 84.3% average load factor to/from that nation. One reason was the entry of Virgin from LHR, with significantly more capacity. Excluding the COVID years, 69.8% was BA’s lowest result in many years. What is not known is how many of BA’s business seats were filled.
Let’s focus on November, which is always one of the hardest months for airlines. In that month, BA and Virgin will collectively have 21,068 seats for sale to/from TPA. Compared to last November, OAG data shows that capacity has fallen by a considerable 31%. Excluding the pandemic years, it’ll be at the lowest level since 2018.
Having far fewer available seats will help yield and load performance for both operators. BA will also benefit from its huge network behind LHR, while LGW flights primarily rely on the local market. Virgin will also benefit, as its LHR-TPA load was only 73.8% last year. It was that carrier’s lowest US load factor. Now both airlines will fight it out directly from the UK’s busiest airport.
Both airlines fill fewer TPA seats in the winter. As such, much lower capacity is clearly desirable, as it will address the capacity-demand imbalance. In terms of flights, eight to nine weekly departures will be available in November: BA will offer five weekly services on the 787-10, and Virgin will have three to four weekly flights on the 787-9.
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