British Airways is to resume direct flights from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur in summer 2015.
The daily service from Terminal 5 will be operated by a four-cabin Boeing 777-200ER featuring 12 seats in First, 48 in Club World, 32 in World Traveller Plus and a further 127 in World Traveller.
Flights begin on 27th May 2015. British Airways last flew to the Malaysian capital in 2001.
Lynne Embleton, British Airways’ Director of Business Strategy, said: “We have been working to resume flights to Kuala Lumpur for a long time, so it is wonderful to be back in the heart of Malaysia once again.
“We are re-starting the route in response to commercial demand from our customers who have been asking us for direct British Airways flights to Kuala Lumpur, which opens up new connecting routes around the region.”
Kuala Lumpur is the world’s largest aviation hub not currently served directly by British Airways, and a major centre for Oneworld airlines. Malaysia itself has strong ties with the UK and a large, rapidly growing economy with a focus on international trade.
British Airways, known then as Imperial Airways, first began flying to Malaysia on 9th December 1933. The flight, from London Croydon Airport, made 22 stops before eventually reaching Alor Star (now Alor Setar) nine days later.
The airline’s first flight to Kuala Lumpur took off on 1st August 1956 when BOAC operated a Canadair Argonaut ‘Coronet’ aircraft on the outbound route and a Lockheed Constellation ‘Majestic’ on the return.
The airline has given the route the same flight numbers it previously operated with before 2001. The BA033 will depart T5 daily at 20.15, arriving into Kuala Lumpur 12 hours 45 minutes later at 16.00. The returning BA034 will leave Kuala Lumpur at 23.05 and arrive back into London Heathrow’s T5 at 05.25 the next morning.
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director, Malaysia Airports, said: “I greatly welcome the return of British Airways to Malaysia.
“I believe this new route will have a very positive economic, political, social and cultural impact on both countries and it underlines the strength and vibrancy of the air travel market between them.”
