British Airways is to cut European air fares by up to 80 per cent on 42 routes.
Saturday night stay and advance purchase restrictions have now been scrapped for new lower year round air tickets on flights from the UK to France, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Prices will start from £59 return on domestic routes and £69 return including taxes, from London to Paris and Amsterdam. The new fares will be available from Thursday 20th June and the earlier a booking is made, the wider the choice of lower fares available.

British Airways’ domestic network offering the new fares increases to
29 routes with the inclusion of 11 new domestic routes operated by its wholly owned subsidiary British Airways CitiExpress.

More than 50,000 air tickets at the lowest fare will be available every month on the 71 domestic and European routes which now have lower flexible fares and fewer booking restrictions.

New fares will continue to be introduced to the airline’s European network during the summer.

The lowest return air fare previously on offer by the carrier required a Saturday night stay and advance purchase. The removal of these restrictions means that a midweek return flight to Paris will now cost from £69 instead of £298, saving £229.

Customers will also be able to combine peak and off peak fares to get the best possible price on a flight which suits their needs.

For example, a business traveller can combine a cheaper fixed outbound flight to Paris with a flexible return, paying £199 instead of £311, saving £112.

Martin George, British Airways Director of Marketing, said: “We are offering full service at no frills prices on more than 70 routes across Europe. We are adopting what the no frills carriers do well and combining this with what our customers tell us we do better than anyone else.

“We provide frequent flights from convenient airports, two cabin classes,
choice of seats, free food and bar service, frequent flyer programmes, excellent customer service and all the benefits you would expect from a world class airline.”

The airline began lowering air fares on domestic routes in April and has attracted new mid week leisure customers and budget conscious business travellers. Domestic passenger numbers have increased have increased by 15 per cent.

As stated in the airline’s Future Size and Shape review announced in February, the fare changes coincide with an overall reduction in operational costs.

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