In a widely anticipated move, British Airways has added its next US route: London Heathrow to St. Louis. It is exactly the kind of thin, long service that the Boeing 787 was designed for. Even before this announcement, BA was planning an average of 50 daily flights to the US next summer, which was already a record.
St. Louis has had scheduled flights to London on various occasions. For example, American Airlines served London Gatwick until 2003, with this route inherited from TWA due to its then-hub. British Caledonian flew to St. Louis in the 1980s, which was partly to feed Ozark's flights.
British Airways Will Begin Flying To St. Louis
The oneworld carrier's first departure from Heathrow, which is the world's tenth-busiest airport by aircraft movements, will be on April 22. The route, which will cover 3,650 nautical miles (6,760 km) each way, will run four times weekly on the Boeing 787-8. When writing, it is currently unknown if it'll be aboard its refurbished 204-seat frames with its latest Club World or its non-refurbished 214-seat aircraft. The schedule is shown below.
When writing, and subject to change, BA plans to fly to 27 US airports next year: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Cincinnati, Dallas/Fort Worth (returns in October 2025), Denver, Houston Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark, New York JFK, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington Dulles.
Days
Heathrow To St. Louis; Local Times
St. Louis To Heathrow; Local Times
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays
16:25-19:30
22:00-12:05+1
Hang On: Why St. Louis?
The St. Louis metro area is home to over three million people and is the headquarters of multiple Fortune 500 companies. Numerous other big companies are present, while it has a GDP of $227 billion in 2023 and has had the US's fastest-growing GDP per person in the past few years. All these things will help to fill its premium cabins. As with all such routes, it will be heavily incentivized and may also have revenue guarantees or other risk-sharing things.
In the 12 months to June 2025, booking data shows it had approximately 730 daily round-trip passengers to/from Europe. A downside is that it already has many one-stop options via hubs in the US, Canada, and -- as discussed below -- Germany. As is usually the case with the US, London was comfortably the largest market. It had around 130 daily round-trip passengers. In fact, St. Louis was London's largest unserved US city.
St. Louis's Top 10 Most Trafficked Cities To Target Via Heathrow
Frankfurt*, Rome, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Athens, Madrid, Hyderabad, Venice
* Only because of nonstop flights (see later)
London Heathrow to/from St. Louis is also high-yielding. When all airlines/passengers/cabins are included, the average one-way fare is $1,225 (including a fuel surcharge), which reflects the premium demand. It is more or less the same as Dallas. But as flights will cover around 12% less distance than Dallas, they'll obviously benefit from lower operating costs. And when added to the financial incentives, the attraction is perhaps not too hard to see.
It Will Be St. Louis's 2nd Long-Haul Carrier
Until BA takes off, St Louis' sole European link is from Frankfurt with Lufthansa, which started in June 2022. It is interesting to note that Icelandair served Kansas City but not St. Louis, even though the latter is a much bigger market.
St. Louis has one of Lufthansa's highest load factors to the US. The German giant has served the market three times weekly aboard the 255-seat A330-300, which is the carrier's lowest-capacity widebody. However, flights will rise to five times weekly next summer. When combined with BA's entry, it will be the first time in many years that St. Louis has had so many flights to Europe.