British Airways reintroduces London Heathrow – Guernsey Air Route.

British Airways (BA) will reintroduce the London Heathrow to Guernsey flight, almost after 45 years. The last time BA had operated was in 1980. The airport pair has seen various other carriers over the years, including Air UK in the 1980s & 1990s and Flybe, which had operated for only 12 months until March 2020.

Elsewhere, BA CityFlyer also flew from London Gatwick to Guernsey until 2003. Of course, Aurigny already serves Guernsey to Gatwick and London City, although the latter route is at risk from BA’s entry. As per official sources Flybe had received £825,000 in subsidies to temporarily serve Heathrow. The rationale was to add connectivity to and from the UK’s busiest airport and to boost the economic development of the British Crown Dependency of Guernsey.

Official source says that Guernsey’s top political committee voted against BA receiving a subsidy. Of course, some financial support is inevitable. After all, BA would not otherwise begin what will be a heavily loss-making service.

BA From Heathrow To Guernsey –

As per schedule the first BA flight will take off from the UK’s busiest airport on April 19^th, 2026. It is perhaps partly for slot-sitting reasons. Due to Guernsey’s renowned short runway of 4,800 feet (1,463 metres) and to help with higher loads, BA will fly the 123 seat Airbus A319. This is the carrier’s lowest-capacity mainline equipment. BA’s development comes soon after it cut four routes from London, although it has also just added a new service to Tivat.

Guernsey’s middle-of-the-day timings are awful except for visitors to either Guernsey or London and for the small number of people connecting elsewhere. It will not capture many higher-yielding passengers, who will continue to prefer to fly on Aurigny’s early morning/early evening services to/from the island. BA’s rationale is that it would rather not use highly valuable peak slots, which it would have to take from other services.

Flybe served Guernsey-Heathrow between March 2019 and March 2020 aboard the Dash 8 Q400. Flights left the Channel Islands in the mid-afternoon and departed from Heathrow in the late afternoon. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, it carried 33,300 round-trip passengers. Unsurprisingly, it was highly seasonal, with 43% more passengers in August than in November.

Even with its financial subsidy and pretty low-capacity aircraft, it only fills 62% of seats. It is a big question as to how will BA manage to fare with higher-capacity machines and its schedule?

Frequency: Heathrow-Guernsey – Daily: 11:55 Hours – 12:55 Hours (01hour)

Guernsey-Heathrow – Daily: 13:45 Hours /13:50 Hours; 14:50/14:55 Hours (1h 05m)

Guernsey-London Will Have Up To 10 Daily Flights. In 2024, the UK CAA shows that this short market had 308,000 round-trip passengers. Ignoring seasonality, there were 844 round-trip passengers daily. Virtually everyone was point-to-point: they only flew between the two places. Three routes existed: Guernsey to City, Gatwick, and Stansted. The latter route launched in April 2024, but only lasted for one season.

As on November 21st 2025, and certainly subject to change, 66 weekly departures will be available from next July, which is higher than at any other point in the past decade. 08 departures will be available on Saturdays, 09 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 10 on the remaining days of the week. Aurigny will have 44 weekly flights to Gatwick (ATR 72) and 15 to City (ATR 72), while BA will run daily from Heathrow (A319).

While subject to change, let’s consider Friday, July 17, 2026. That day, these flights will leave Guernsey for London: 06:40 Hours to City, 6:55 Hours to Gatwick, 9:25 Hours to Gatwick, 10:15 Hours to Gatwick, 13:40 Hours to Gatwick, 13:50 Hours to Heathrow, 14:40 Hours to Gatwick, 16:45 Hours to Gatwick, 17:30 Hours to City, and 18:10 Hours to Gatwick.

Back to the British Crown Dependency, these flights will depart from London: 08:30 Hours from City, 08:35 Hours from Gatwick, 11:05 Hours from Gatwick, 11:55 Hours from Gatwick, 11:55 Hours from Heathrow, 15:30 Hours from Gatwick, 16:25 Hours from Gatwick, 18:25 Hours from Gatwick, 19:20 Hours from City, and 19:40 Hours from Gatwick.

Covering just 148 nautical miles (274 kilometres) each way, Guernsey is Heathrow’s new second-shortest market. Only flights to Manchester, also operated by BA, cover a shorter distance. It is also shorter than all 16 UK routes that easyJet added on November 20th, none of which obviously touch Heathrow. It will become London’s fourth-shortest route by distance, after Heathrow-Manchester, Gatwick-Guernsey, and Gatwick-Jersey.

As usual, it is a bit different for block time. At a minimum of one hour, it is tied with Heathrow to Brussels, Jersey, and Manchester. Several routes from other London airports are also timed at an hour. City to Rotterdam is the shortest service on this basis, with a block time as low as 55 minutes.

Team Maverick