Thanks to Peter Lourenço for sending me this, anfd i wonder if anyone else has noticed any of these connections going. ?
Also are there any other routes that the island is losing?
As one of your many ex-pats who have one leg on Madeira and another overseas, I have been enjoying your blog/posts for about 2 years now.
I was wondering if the upcoming “deletion” of flight connections to Madeira is on anyone’s radar screen. I have searched the blog and see loads of new flight announcements but few, if any, mention about what is coming/about to happen come October.
Permit to share with you what I am seeing (and ask anyone else out there to confirm!).
- One World (British Airways and Iberia (sorry I don’t look at the once-a-week Finnair flight as a good flight connection!))
- Earlier this year there was much press about “Iberia planning their Winter schedule to Madeira” and being happy with the route.
- Such appeared in https://madeira-weekly.com/
2024/03/11/iberia-air-winter- schedule/ and many other Portuguese English speaking sites (something about a conference in Berlin where this was announced) - IBERIA
- I see the last non-stop to/from Madrid on October 26 – effectively removing Madrid as a One World connection point for long-haul connections and no continuation of the service currently found/planned.
- BRITISH AIRWAYS
- I have seen lots of chat but perhaps it is not covered that BA is leaving its LHR-FNC route for LGW – FNC (Euroflyer). The last day of non-stop to/from Heathrow appears to be October 26 once again
- This removes LHR as a One World connection point for long-haul flights (as LGW is a shadow in comparison)
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The SATA year-round USA connection(s) (especially with the EuroAtlantic 767 flights (to Toronto, Boston, and New York coming to an end in September), I would have hoped we would return to the once-a-week non-stop to JFK year-round.
- No word at all that the service is being terminated. Yet, they appear to cut the non-stop service as of October 14 when the last FNC-JFK (narrow-body) is scheduled.
These three flights have been our lifelines and we don’t relish being restricted to Star Alliance but come the end of October it seems quite grim. I have noticed that the prices of flights climb quite quickly with lack of competition!
Has anyone else pointed out to you these “losses”? Or, do you have any insights/words about what schedules may return in 2025?
I know that BA moves back to Gatwick , as it was before Covid , but it does seem that a direct flight from Heathrow wiuld still be good for many people, especially on connecting flights.
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