British Airways launches flights from Stansted – and it gets even more bizarre

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When I was sent a link to itv.com by a reader yesterday morning, I was more than a little surprised by what I read.

British Airways had announced that it was launching flights from Stansted.

This made no sense at all – until I saw the details.

British Airways is launching flights to Faro, Malaga, Ibiza and Palma

There is a grand total of one flight per week, per route

All of these flights will take place on a Saturday or Sunday

All of these flights will use tiny Embraer 190 aircraft

Alert readers will have worked out what is going on now. London City Airport is closed between lunchtime on Saturday and lunchtime on Sunday. This means that British Airways has a few planes hanging around with not much to do.

Until now.

Just look at these flight times:

Ibiza – departs 06.45 (lands 10.15), returns at 11.00 (lands 12.30), Saturday only

Malaga – departs 13.15 (lands 17.15), returns at 18.00 (lands 19.50), Saturday only

Palma – departs 20.45 (lands 00.15), returns at 01.00 (lands 02.30!), Saturday (back Sunday) only

Faro – departs 05.40 (lands 08.30), returns at 09.05 (lands 10.00), Sunday only

Basically, the same plane will be flying all of these services.

The good news is that there is a new ‘Escape’ lounge at Stansted – although whether it is open for a 5.40am departure is another matter.

Flights are now available for booking, for cash or Avios, at ba.com.

The services run from 28th May to 30th October.

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