British Airways is halting flights to Beijing from Oct. 26 until November 2025, it said on Thursday without elaborating on the reason, as European carriers struggle with a ban on flying over Russian airspace.
The airline, owned by IAG, said it would continue flying daily to Shanghai and Hong Kong. It did not say whether it would introduce a new route to replace the Beijing one.
European and British carriers are unable to fly over Russian airspace, which means flying to Asia takes a few hours longer than it used to. That makes it more expensive and less appealing to customers.
British Airways only reinstated the Beijing route just over a year ago after a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traffic from China to Europe has been very slow to recover since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, with many flights on the route now dominated by Chinese carriers.
Virgin Atlantic also recently announced it would end its route to Shanghai in October.
Groups such as Lufthansa have said competition from Chinese carriers, which are allowed to fly over Russian airspace, has cut into their earnings, with Lufthansa’s yields falling on routes on which it competes with the carriers.
IAG has said that it is not strongly affected as much of its core business is focused on North and South America, where bookings and demand remain strong.