British Airways to drop 15 long-haul routes, including Jeddah and Abu Dhabi

British Airways had said they did not expect international travel to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023. (File/AFP)

• Airline forced to make further cuts, struggling to cope with COVID-19

RIYADH: British Airways has canceled services to more than 15 long-haul destinations next year, according to an article from BBC News.
The article stated that Muscat, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi, three of the airline’s destinations in the Middle East, are to be axed. Other routes, including Riyadh, Bahrain and Kuwait, remain on the list for now.
The airline will also temporarily suspend flights to Sydney, Bangkok and San Jose during the summer of 2021.
Routes to cities in North America, such as Pittsburgh, Calgary and Charleston, have also been cut, alongside flights to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Osaka. The Seychelles, a popular winter holiday destination for Brits, has also been axed.
A request for comment from British Airways was not returned, but the BBC said that passengers had contacted them to say they had trips canceled in 2021 and were waiting to know whether they would receive a refund or a flight voucher.
The British broadcaster also reported that the airline had apologized and that customers on canceled flights were entitled to a full refund.
The news comes as many other airlines were also forced to cut staff and routes as travel rates dropped due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
British Airways said previously that the pandemic had hit them “harder than anything ever before,” with losses that outstripped even the financial crisis of 2008 and the September 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Losses totaled almost £4 billion ($5.37 billion) in the first half of this year.
The airline was also in the headlines this summer when it made about 10,000 staff redundant as it fought to save money and limit burning through cash reserves as passenger numbers collapsed.
It also announced in October that CEO Alex Cruz would be replaced by Ireland’s Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle.
Previously, British Airways had said they did not expect international travel to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, despite the promise of several new COVID-19 vaccines.
However, with a new strain of the virus being detected in several countries, the UK most prominent among them, Saudi Arabia has followed suit with more than 30 other countries and initiated a new, week-long ban on international flights in and out of the Kingdom.
Saudi citizens who were set to fly home from London on the night the lockdown began were escorted off their scheduled flights and provided with hotel accommodations until further notice.
As the new COVID-19 strain is still being studied, Britain has initiated a Tier 4 Lockdown protocol, calling the situation “out of control.”