British Airways increases flights from New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles

British Airways has added extra capacity to the US after seeing bookings almost double within hours of the UK government announcement that vaccinated US arrivals to England would no longer need to quarantine.

BA reported US bookings “surged by 95%” following the announcement on Wednesday of the relaxation from August 2, saying it has added extra seats to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago as well as to Berlin, Geneva, and Hamburg.

Flights between New York-JFK and Heathrow will increase from 17 to 21 services a week from August 16 and from Los Angeles and Chicago to Heathrow from seven to 10 a week.

Services to Los Angeles will further increase to 14 a week from August 23 and flights between Seattle and Heathrow increase from four a week to seven.

BA said it would continue to expand its US-UK scheduled throughout September.

The government relaxation of quarantine rules for vaccinated passengers came after a successful trial of vaccinating certification checks by BA, Virgin Atlantic, and Heathrow this month.