British Airways cuts the road to Fort Lauderdale

Since September 8, 2019, British Airways has closed reservations for its London Gatwick – Fort Lauderdale service after two years of operation.

What are the details?

British Airways began serving Fort Lauderdale on July 6, 2017, three times a week with a three-clbad Boeing 777-200ER. It was thought that the road had been launched to compete directly with the low cost Norwegian Airlines company on the road. The announcement by British Airways about the launch of flights to Fort Lauderdale comes just months after the start of its service from Norwegian from Gatwick.

In 2017, Norwegian was considered a major competitor of British Airways. After the start of Norwegian flights to Oakland and Fort Lauderdale, British Airways decided to join the company and compete on these two routes. However, since then, Norwegian has recorded a loss of 171 million euros in the first quarter of 2019 and has turned out to be a less important competitor for British Airways.

Last month, Norwegian moved its Gatwick service from Fort Lauderdale to Miami to boost yields. With the transfer from Norwegian to Miami, British Airways has no reason to continue its service, as it carries its own metal to Miami several times a day and has a strong presence of Oneworld at MIA.

British Airways provided Business Traveler with a statement that the link was not commercially viable, indicating:

"We regularly review our schedule to ensure we serve popular destinations. Through our partnership with American Airlines, we are already providing 28 weekly flights to Miami Airport and as of October 2019, our customers will have even more flights to choose from on this route. "

Another potential reason that has been reported on the forums is that British Airways has not been able to match Norwegian's proposed fares. However, with BA's newly-densified B777s, which occupy one in ten seats in the economy, it is hard to believe that British Airways did not match fares on this route to remain competitive.

What happens if I am booked on this flight after September?

If you booked on this route after September, British Airways should contact you to fully reimburse you or to travel on a Heathrow flight to Miami, operated by British Airways or American Airlines.

There is no doubt that this is bad news for Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas, as flights to Europe are already quite limited from Fort Lauderdale. However, given the strong presence of British Airways in the Florida region, we could see BA modernize one of its flights to Miami with the A380 throughout the year to offset the withdrawal of its service to Fort Lauderdale.

Are you shocked that British Airways is pulling out of Fort Lauderdale? Let us know below!