British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has announced plans to begin operations out of its fourth London gateway - London Stansted - on May 28. In a statement, the carrier said it would use its BA CityFlyer (CJ, London City) unit to operate flights to Faro, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, and Ibiza using its fleet of E190 twinjets.
"I'm sure these routes will be very popular with passengers from across London, Cambridge and the growing east of England region who are looking to head off on their holidays," Stansted Airport Managing Director Andrew Harrison said. "We look forward to working closely with British Airways to build a strong working relationship and ensure these new flights are a huge success."
British Airways currently operates out of London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and London City but has largely ignored Stansted, an LCC stronghold, since the sale of its former budget operation Go Fly (London Stansted) to easyJet (London Luton) in 2002.
For its part, London Stansted is dominated by Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) which controls 82.58% of the airport's weekly capacity followed by easyJet with 11.18%.
