In an effort to mitigate the effects of a planned 16-day strike by its mixed-fleet cabin crew, British Airways is leasing nine A320 aircraft from Qatar Airways. The aircraft were flown from Doha to London on 30 June and will enter service on 1 July.
The Aircraft and Initial Destinations
The aircraft are on lease to British Airways via wet lease, meaning the aircraft and crews are provided by Qatar Airways, but will operate with British Airways flight numbers.
The nine aircraft scheduled to fly for British Airways and their initial routes from London are:
- A7-ADA — Brussels
- A7-ADB — Munich | Nice
- A7-ADC — Oslo | Krakow
- A7-ADD — Sofia | Madrid
- A7-ADE — Not yet scheduled
- A7-ADF — Kiev
- A7-ADG — Not yet scheduled
- A7-ADI — Not yet scheduled
- A7-LAA — Zurich | Tallinn
Aircraft to Spare
Qatar Airways is able to make these aircraft available due to ongoing restrictions on Qatar-registered flights to, from, or through Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The lack of flights to destinations in these nearby countries, as well as the up-gauging of aircraft on other routes, has left Qatar Airways with excess capacity.
