British Airways PLC said Wednesday that it will resume flights to Saudi Arabia from London in March after a four year break, citing the increasing importance of the oil market. BA said it plans to provide flights from London's Heathrow Airport to both Jeddah and Riyadh. Both services will begin with the commencement of the summer 2009 timetable on March 29 and will operate five times per week from London's Heathrow-T5. The Riyadh service will be operated by a Boeing 767 in a three class configuration: Club, World Traveler Plus and World traveler with the Riyadh utilizing a B777 with four classes: First, Club, World Traveler Plus and World Traveler. The carrier had suspended services on those routes in March 2005 because of poor commercial performance. “Resuming these flights makes commercial sense,” said Robert Boyle, BA's commercial director. “The oil market is increasingly important globally and inward investment into Saudi Arabia has risen considerably in the last couple of years.” Boyle added that liberalization in the aviation market between Britain and Saudi Arabia had also contributed to the carrier's decision. The British and Saudi governments agreed in June to increase the maximum number of weekly flights that each country's airlines can operate between the two states to 35 from 13.
