British Airways (BA) would like to see Britain added to China’s growing list of countries eligible for its 30-day visa-free scheme to increase demand after suspending its Beijing flights last year. China has been steadily extending its 30-day visa waiver scheme. As of June, it included 55 countries but does not cover Britain, although British passport holders were included in a transit visa-free policy for 240 hours last year.

“We’re working with the UK government and diplomatically with the China government around seeing if we can get the UK into that programme,” the airline’s Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, Neil Chernoff, told media in Shanghai.

“I think that that’s one way that we can improve demand.”

British Airways halted flights to Beijing in October, one of several foreign airlines that discontinued services to China due to restrictions on flying over Russian airspace and a slower-than-anticipated recovery in Chinese travel following the pandemic.

Longer flights circumventing Russia result in increased fuel and crew costs, and lower aircraft utilization, which disadvantages airlines unable to overfly Russia compared to Chinese airlines capable of taking shorter routes.

“In a place like China, which is not subject to the same restrictions we have in the UK, they can obviously offer a more competitive product because their flight times are less,” Chernoff explained.

British Airways continues to maintain daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong and is consistently assessing the possibility of reinstating its Beijing route. Chernoff mentioned that demand has not yet matched the rising supply since the pandemic.

Additionally, British Airways collaborates with state-owned China Southern and recently announced plans to enhance this partnership by allowing frequent flier points to be both accumulated and redeemed by both airlines.

Source: Reuters