Jetsettersblog

British Airways announced it will start non-stop daily flights to San Diego from London Heathrow as a first benefit of the official launch of the new joint business agreement with American Airlines and Iberia.

The new transatlantic service to London is scheduled to begin in June 2011 and will be operated with the carrier’s popular three-class Boeing 777 aircraft.

“Inaugurating non-stop flights between San Diego and London is one of the first tangible benefits of the joint business operation with American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia, and we are pleased to be returning to this beautiful city,” said Kevin Burns, British Airways’ regional director for Western U.S.A. and Western Canada.

“We’ve been waiting for 14 years to be able to bring these benefits to our customers, and it’s great news that we can now put our plans into action starting in San Diego,” said Cathy Bradley Berg, American Airlines’ regional vice president of passenger sales, Western Division.

“Our partnership will further boost oneworld in what has been a momentous year for the alliance, and enable us to invest in new products and services while offering more choices for our customers.”

British Airways will operate its new flights to San Diego daily. London arrivals and departures will be at Terminal 5 which was designed to handle up to 30 million customers a year and has already transformed the customer experience at Heathrow.

BA and American have also placed code-shares on a significant number of additional routes, greatly increasing the number of destination choices available to customers. American will add its code to 322 British Airways and Iberia flights serving 101 destinations; BA will add its code to 2,063 American and Iberia flights serving 181 destinations; and Iberia will add its code to 354 American and BA flights serving 96 destinations. There will be further opportunities to increase code-shares in the future.