Why British Airways Flew to Calgary

British Airways flew between Calgary, Alberta, and London-Heathrow for over a decade, from 2006 to 2019. They had also flown to Calgary back in the 1980s.

In the later years of this most recent route though - even prior to the events of 2020 - BA seemed to be wavering a bit, downgrading it to seasonal at one point before cutting it "permanently" in 2021.

Today, I explore the story of British Airways' YYC-LHR route!

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SOURCES:

[1] British Airways YYC 2006 Press Release

[2] British Airways Aircraft Adjustments 2007-2008

[3] WestJet/BA Codeshare

[4] British Airways 787s to Calgary

[5] BA 767s return for 2015

[7] BA 767 and 787-8 Cabin Layouts

[8] WestJet/BA Codeshare Ends

[9] BA Suspends Calgary Flights for Winter 2018-2019

[10] BA 787-9 Seating

[11] No First Class for Calgary

[13] The last BA Calgary Flight

[14] BA permanently suspends some routes

[15] WestJet Calgary to Heathrow

[16] London-Heathrow Summer 2022 Slot Usage

[17] British Airways No Longer Flies to Calgary

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© Alex Praglowski Aviation 2022

This video is the property of Alex Praglowski Aviation and may not be used for any purpose without prior permission. Contact me at the email in the "About" section of my channel for usage.

[emelgee]

Don't forget the London capacity that flies via Amsterdam on KLM. Amsterdam is often referred to as London's 5th airport - especially when it comes to connecting traffic to other parts of the UK than London. There are in fact more flights from Amsterdam to destinations in the UK than from Heathrow.

[vyomps]

As a Calgarian, I was so heartbroken when BA cancelled their services. I found their service to always be much superior than AC. Air Canada's infamous Banana Bread always ruined every journey for me LOL. I used to connect from Heathrow to India and loved staying on the BA network for the duration of the journey. Flight timings and fares were both extremely ideal and reduced jet lag. Being able to transit at Heathrow T5 was also a fun experience as compared to elsewhere. Please come back BA. Now we only have KLM which represents some international wide-body diversity at YYC. Otherwise the airport is always so dull :(

[nickskier]

Well its always a shame to have fewer airline options and international companies flying to calgary. Happy that it gives Westjet and Air Canada room to gain more revenue on the Calgary-London Flight.

[xyaviation]

Flew on that flight with BA and AC, I always found BA to have better pricing, at least from a U.K. perspective… when I booked BA Premium economy was cheaper than AC and Westjet Economy! I think it would be a good move for BA to try and codeshare with Westjet on the LHR, allowing onward connections and eliminating the need for BA to fly, benefiting both airlines, however I doubt that’s very realistic.

[michaelnewby]

I used to work the BA YYC flights 2015-2018, was actually one of my favourite trips. But the flights were rarely full.

[sevenapertures]

My father had a few flights on the BA 767 on this route. It’s sad to see BA no longer flying to Calgary. Love these videos, Alex. Keep up with the good work!

[noahlovesplanes]

Love your videos Alex! Keep up the good work. They are so interesting and entertaining!

[calgaryguy]

This is very sad news. Calgarians are held hostage by sub-par local airlines. The taxes to fly into yyc are ridiculous. Open up the skies and give us some competition in the market. Emirates and Qatar have shown interest in the past to fly to yyc but were shut down. Let the market decide.

[jasonChampton]

2018-2019 was the years I really started planespotting at YYC so I’m really glad I got to see them when I had a chance, but man it’s sad we might not see them again (anytime soon.)

[cdg]

Can you do a video of why LH has cancelled YYC service twice as well?

[mchandler]

As a Brit that flies to Calgary quite a bit (you can probably tell why from my picture) I always use Air Canada because it's always the cheapest on Expedia with hotel and hire car deals. Used Air Transat from Gatwick once and they weren't that good. Air Canada has always been good to be honest. In fact I've never used British Airways because they are always expensive!

[jfmezei]

Calgary used to be considered a high yield city due to head offices for the oil patch. Where you have head offices, you have executives who travel business class.
BTW, "historically", Montréal comes before Toronto for flights. The combination of loss of head offices due to election of separatists PQ in 1976 as well as unfinished move from Dorval to Mirabel (leaving domestic unconnected to international) resulted in the move to Toronto as hub for Air Canada.

[naturallyherb]

British Airways also operated cargo-only flights to Edmonton at some time during the pandemic. It's good to mention that too.

[egpx]

BA might have ditched the WestJet codeshare a couple of years previously but they were still using WestJet for their passengers' onward connections. In spring 2019 I flew on a BA 788 LHR-YYC and then on to YYJ on a WestJet 737. I flew the same route later with AC, LHR-YYC on a 789 and on to YYJ on a Dash 8. Will have to try WestJet on the LHR-YC leg next time!

[brucecanmore]

Flew BA twice to LHR one 767 one 788 both business. Really great cabin crew both trips. Awesome northern lights! The opposed seating was ok as a couple but I would hate as a solo traveller.
Flight was delayed ~24 hours, mechanical. Struggled to get the European plan cash back which was ultimately very significant given the formula for time and distance. Wish Canada had that consumer protection for domestic travel also.

[cdsmrailaviation]

I explored BA as an option for my first visit to Calgary in 2019 and I was put off by the price of both the base fare and seat selection prices compared to Air Canada. After a few times using AC I've been swayed to Westjet though and definitely enjoyed my experience with them

[thecalham]

My dad runs a flight tracker just west of brooks I remember seeing a BA flight years back saying their forward loo was clogged... I imagine that's a long flight for a clogged toilet

[le_great_escape]

I would love if you could do more videos like these 🎉

[VanshForce]

0:15 I got absolute brain cancer after seeing that B.A 747 at Calgary. It looks cursed and beautiful at the same time.

[Rob-bi]

I used to work for British Airways flight 103/102 until the Airline stopped flying to Calgary I really hope that BA does return to Calgary one day in the near future.