BA targets Oregon as trans-Atlantic partnership spreads wings

British Airways (BA) and American Airlines will start the only year-round service between London Heathrow and Portland, Oregon from June 1. The flight will be operated by British Airways using a Boeing 787 and will operate five times a week from Portland to Heathrow Terminal 5. READ: Norwegian consolidates flights to San Francisco. The new route will take the number of US destinations the airline flies to from London up to 27, and the number of daily flights offered by BA and American Airlines as part of their transatlantic joint business up to 86 per day. “Portland will be a fantastic addition to our route map,’’ said BA networks and alliances director Neil Chernoff. “As a major technology and innovation hub, the city is drawing ever-increasing numbers of international visitors. “Since 2015 we’ve launched routes to Pittsburgh, Charleston, Nashville, New Orleans and San Jose, and this is key to our joint business strategy which is growing across North America. We’re confident the route will be warmly welcomed by both business and leisure travelers.” The route is one of eight to be launched by American and its trans-Atlantic business partners, including Iberia and Finnair, for summer 2020. They include American’s new Boston-London Heathrow service and Iberia’s new route from Madrid to Washington, DC. American will also extend service on select seasonal routes using a mixture of Boeing 787-8 and  Airbus A330 aircraft. Services that will extend into winter include Chicago to Barcelona (ending November 29)  and Athens (ending October 24). Flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Rome, Philadelphia and Prague and Philadelphia and Lisbon will all end January 5, 2021. “Our partnerships mean more new routes and more options for our customers around the world,” said Vasu Raja, American’s senior vice president of network strategy. “With this new British Airways flight between London and Portland, American and our partners will offer more than 1,000 flights every week between North America and Europe.” .