British Airways has announced that it will be running four flights a week between Granada and London from the 25th of July.

This represents a much needed boost to this flagging provincial airport, after recent disappointments over charter companies operating there. Not only will BA be running regular flights from Aeropuerto García Lorca, serving the provinces of Granada and Jaén, but it will also be doing so with competitive prices.

There is no doubt about it that there is growing interest for the City of The Alhambra within Britain, as well as many Spaniards and British expats who want to fly to London direct without having to make their way to Málaga Airport.

Returning to the ‘competitive prices,’ despite not having any competition on that air route and BA’s not being a low-cost airline, what is known to date is that we could be talking about 85 pounds (100 euros) for a regular flight, which means no delays, inflight meals etc etc, compared with the cheaper (supposedly) low-cost flights that start off at bargain prices, but by the time that you actually get on the plane with your baggage, have cost you a lot more than you originally bargained for.

For those readers who are interested in these upcoming flights, you can find out more at www.ba.com – you might even be able to book a flight already.

For those of you who are Internet shy, here is some more information: flights will be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday during the summer but for the rest of the year, the Sunday flight will be dropped.

The weekday flights will depart London at 09.15h, arriving at Granada at 12.50h and the Granada to London flights leave at 13.35h, arriving at 15.15h. As for the Sunday flights, they depart London at 15.20h, arriving at 19.00h and depart Granada at 19.40h, arriving at 2120h.

The aircraft that will be used to cover this route will be the Embraer 190, which have a seating capacity of 98, so we’re talking about small aircraft, but hopefully adequate for the demand.

The big difference between British Airways and all the previous airlines that have tried the route: Ryan Air, Hispanair, etc, is that BA is not asking for a subsidy from the provincial council. What they are asking for, however, is for the Diputación de Granada to finance a publicity campaign in the UK to promote the route.

As can be imagined, the Diputación is over the moon. The provincial head of tourism, Francisco Tarifa, considers that BA’s move will help to recuperate the British-tourist market for the city and province, which has dropped considerably, he says, in the last few months.

Another happy bunny is the airport manager, Pedro Soriano, who considers it “very good news.” He believes the British tourist trade as a “priority” for the airport. If you had any doubt how happy he is about the news, here are his words: “We couldn’t be any happier for the BA move. Let’s hope that other airlines follow suit.”

(News: Granada, Andalucia)