BA to cut air fares
British Airways is launching an offer this week which will see lower fares on 80 of its European routes all year round.
The group said the new fares, which were ‘‘extremely competitive’’ and would target leisure customers, would be permanent prices - rather than a seasonal offer.
The offer, which will cover around 750,000 seats a year, will see BA break up its European flights into five price brackets - STG£80 return fares including tax, covering destinations such as Paris, £100 fares to locations such as Amsterdam, and three other brackets - £120, £140 and £160.
Offers are reported to include return flights from Heathrow or Gatwick to Athens, down from £216 to £140, a return trip from Madrid down from £209.50 to £120 and Paris down from £130.60 to £80 - although BA could not confirm these prices.
A BA spokeswoman said new fares were available now, but were going to be officially launched on Wednesday with newspaper and radio adverts.
‘‘In the past what we have done is have New World Offers to Europe, which are low fares launched at certain terms of the year on some routes for limited periods.
‘‘The difference with these new fares, is that they will be available all year round. It is a restructuring of our cheapest fares in Europe.
‘‘These fares are going to be permanent in the market. They are extremely competitive.’’
For BA, the move comes just days after it completed the long-awaited sale of its low-cost carrier Go to venture capitalist 3i in a £110m deal, as it pursues its strategy to concentrate on premier customers.
The spokeswoman said: ‘‘It is not about wanting to be the cheapest in the market. No-frills airlines are always going to undercut us. It is about having competitive prices out there. We are great value for money.’’
She added: ‘‘These fares will help us to compete with the no-frills carriers - they have become a real force in Europe.’’
‘‘We said when we sold Go that it didn’t fit with our strategy any more but we have to compete. We always had good fares out there - but this is about having all-year-round fares.’’
*All quoted prices are sterling
