British Airways will start flying its 787 Dreamliners to Nashville on a non-stop London route that’s been the city’s dream for years, since it lost its last non-stop route to Europe 20 years ago.
The 5-day-a-week service will give the area a publicity boost, as well as giving area residents connections to 130 BA cities through Heathrow without changing planes somewhere in the U.S. first. At the same time, it opens up the possibility of many more British visitors for Music City.
The flights, starting next May 4, will use 214-seat 787-8s with 35 business class lie-flats and 25 premium economy seats.
Nashville was once an American Airlines hub, but its last international service ended in the early 1990s. BA has been using its fuel-efficient and mid-size 787s to open new routes that are “long and thin”—not busy enough for bigger planes. Among the new Dreamliner routes, BA flies to Austin, New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Oakland and San Jose. The Austin service has been so popular BA has moved it up to a larger 787-9.
Of course, while adding ‘long and thin’ routes, BA also knows when to go thick. Also starting next spring, BA will switch one of its two daily nonstops to Chicago to an A380 with 469 seats, replacing a 747-400 that has over 100 fewer seats.