London Heathrow Airport new routes in 2017

The new year brings new travel opportunities for passengers using London Heathrow Airport.

The greatest number of new routes is delivered of course by the flag carrier, British Airways. The majority of new services announced for 2017 by BA at the major UK airport are European and typically leisure destinations, such as Nantes and Montpellier in France, Murcia in Southern Spain, Zakynthos in Greece, Pula in Croatia and Brindisi in Italy. Only Tallinn in the economy booming Estonia can be considered a strictly business destination.

Terminal 5 is the largest and the most modern terminal of London Heathrow Airport

As far as long haul flights from Heathrow Airport are concerned, flights to New Orleans are, so far, the only novelty in BA flight map at Heathrow Airport.

Virgin Atlantic, the main competitor of British Airways on the intercontinental flights steps up the game with a direct route to Seattle/Tacoma.

See below a list of new routes at London Heathrow Airport as per early 2017:

British Airways:

• New Orleans – 27 March
• Brindisi (seasonal) – 3 June
• Montpellier (seasonal) – 3 May
• Murcia (seasonal) – 28 March
• Nantes (seasonal) – 29 March
• Palermo (seasonal) – 28 March
• Pula (seasonal) – 1 July
• Tallinn (seasonal) – 28 March
• Zakhyntos (seasonal) – 3 June

Delta Airlines:

• Portland – 27 May

Flybe:

• Aberdeen – 26 March
• Edinburgh – 26 March

Swiss International Airlines:

• Sion – temporary route, available between 4 and 25 February

Virgin Atlantic:

• Seattle/Tacoma – 26 March

Third runway for Heathrow Airport
In October 2016 the UK government supported the project of a third runway to be built at Heathrow. The major European airport has been struggling to adequate its infrastructures to the growing numbers of passengers who use the airport per year.

An additional runway was considered the optimal solution for expand the airport capacity and is expected to allow adding hundreds of thousands of operations per year, amongst them also on new routes.  

See Heathrow expansion plan's overview:

The project of the third runway is causing a great controversy, mainly due to the environmental concerns – air and noise pollution – as well as to regarding the economic viability of the enterprise. While the economic benefits of the expansion have been calculated in £61 billion in the span of 60 years, there are very heavy costs to be considered in order to make the new runway reality, amongst them mitigation packages for the local community, compensation for people who will have to be compulsorily re-homed, noise insulation for homes and ventilation for schools and other public utility buildings in the areas surrounding the airport.

The decision to build the runway is yet to be voted by the parliament.