British Airways Launches Brand New Routes To Italy, Latvia, Poland And Romania

British Airways has just announced first time routes from London Heathrow to three European destinations starting this summer plus routes to two other cities that haven’t had service in decades. For the first time starting 28 June, the airline will fly to Perugia (PEG), Italy to Wroclaw (WRO), Poland from 1 July and to Cluj-Napoca (CLJ), Romania from 2 July. There will also be new routes to to Riga (RIX), Latvia where BA flew until 2007 and Gdansk, Poland where it stopped flying in early 2000s.

All flights will be served from Heathrow, with Wroclaw operating twice a week, and Gdansk, Riga and Cluj-Napoca operating three times a week. Return fares start from £83 to Wroclaw, £85 to Gdansk, £94 to Riga, and £95 to Cluj. British Airways is continuing its flexible booking policy, offering customers no change fees or a voucher exchange for bookings made for travel before the end of April 2022, giving customers a large variety of options should their plans change.

The new flights complement the British Airways network to most of these countries with regular flights scheduled to Krakow and Warsaw in Poland, Bucharest in Romania and of course to many other Italian cities. Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances, said: “It’s great to be launching new routes as we listen to our customers and assess where they want to travel. We know these new destinations will be popular with people visiting friends and relatives but they also offer great city breaks, when the time is right, with flights that head out just before the weekend and return on Sunday.”

Riga is a delight for architecture fans with its fine collection of Art Nouveau buildings and an old town that’s a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. And just out of town is the beach resort Jurmala with an annual music festival over three summer weekends starting from mid July. British Airways last operated flights to Riga in 2007.

Romania has been in the travel spotlight recently with Sibiu chosen as a top five destination for 2021 by European Best Destinations. Cluj-Napoca, a city in northwestern Romania, is the unofficial capital of the Transylvania region and also a great choice for a city break in the country. Cluj has a lovely historic center but it’s perhaps best known for its electronic music festivals. Electric Castle runs from 18-21 July this year.

Wroclaw is known for its beautiful architecture and array of stunning bridges and islands that cross the Odra River. Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea, offers fine museums, a dominating church building and a beautiful old city. Cluj-Napoca, or simply Cluj, is Romania’s second largest city and often described as a cultural hub. British Airways flew briefly to Gdansk between 1999 and the early-2000s and this is the first time in 20 years that flights will resume.

British Airways’ new summer service to Perugia in Umbria starts on 28 June. This was due to start in 2020 but was delayed due to the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic. This is excellent timing for the annual Umbria Jazz Festival, one of the world’s top music festivals. Aside from the festival, there’s much to see and do in Perugia, Umbria’s largest city with a fascinating medieval centre and several important museums including the National Gallery of Umbria, with a fine collection of Renaissance paintings and the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria, which houses Etruscan and Roman artifacts.

British Airways has introduced a range of new safety measures and partnerships to make the travel experience less stressful in the wake of the pandemic. These include partnerships with cleaning brand Dettol, testing providers Randox and Qured, and mobile travel health app VeriFly, for digital health document verification.