BRITISH AIRWAYS increased its revenue out of Ireland by 40 per cent last year and is now planning to double frequency on its Dublin-Heathrow route from October.
It will fly from Dublin to London Heathrow up to eight times a day in a move that could allow it to carry up to 600,000 passengers a year between the cities.
“We had a phenomenal year in 2011 and we’re up 12 per cent this year,” said Simon Daly, BA’s sales manager for Ireland.
“We’ve seen good growth in the business market while leisure traffic has remained strong,” he added.
Mr Daly said the US, Hong Kong and Cape Town are among its busiest connecting routes from Heathrow for Irish passengers using its long-haul hub.
BA returned to the Dublin-Heathrow route in July following its acquisition of UK airline British Midland, which previously operated the services.
This increase in services will put BA in direct competition with Aer Lingus, which is expected to fly 12 times a day on Dublin-Heathrow.
It will also result in BA basing an aircraft in Dublin for early-morning flights.
Mr Daly said BA would retain its code-sharing agreement with Aer Lingus for passengers using the British airline’s hub at Heathrow Terminal 5 to connect to its long-haul services.
“The code share will remain but that’s for passengers connecting through Heathrow,” he said.
It will go head-to-head with Aer Lingus on point-to-point traffic between Dublin and Heathrow and Mr Daly said BA would be “competitive” with its fare pricing.
