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British Airways will add a second daily flight to London in April

British Airways will restore a 10 p.m. departing flight to London from Philadelphia three days a week in April. The flight will be in addition to its 6:30 p.m. flight that operates daily to London.

British Airways planes are parked at Heathrow Airport during a 48 hr cabin crew strike in London, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017.  British Airways cabin crew members and Southern Railways train drivers walked off the job, touching off fresh disruption for travelers in Britain. The strike came a day after a subway strike snarled transport across London as unions increasingly show a willingness to walk off the job in disputes.
British Airways planes are parked at Heathrow Airport during a 48 hr cabin crew strike in London, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017.  British Airways cabin crew members and Southern Railways train drivers walked off the job, touching off fresh disruption for travelers in Britain. The strike came a day after a subway strike snarled transport across London as unions increasingly show a willingness to walk off the job in disputes.Read moreFRANK AUGSTEIN / AP Photo
    by Linda Loyd
    Published 

British Airways will add a second daily flight to London from Philadelphia starting in April. The airline will restore a 10 p.m. departure from Philadelphia International Airport on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays.

For nearly 19 years, British Airways operated two daily flights, but eliminated the 10 p.m. departure in March when American Airlines, British Airways' business partner and member of the same Oneworld airline alliance, added a second daily American flight between Philadelphia and London in March.

British Airways announced that it will operate 10 flights a week, up from 7, from PHL starting April 9. The airline did not say whether the service will be seasonal or operate year around.

British Airways had operated the 10 p.m. flight since May 1998. It was popular with business travelers who could get a full day in Philadelphia and a full day in London. The late flight leaves London Heathrow Airport at 5 p.m., arriving in Philadelphia at 7:55 p.m.

British Airways currently operates a 6:30 p.m. flight to London, arriving at 6:35 a.m. the next day, and departs London at 12:40 p.m. and arrives here at 3:25 p.m.

"It was a popular flight because of the times," said Jeffrey Erlbaum, president of ETA Travel in Conshohocken. "It's good for business travel, though this may be more geared toward leisure travelers. On the way there, the 10 p.m. flight made sleeping on the plane much easier. Coming back, you have almost the whole day in London, or if you are connecting from somewhere else in Europe, it gives you that much more time.

"It was, and will be, the latest flight back from Europe to Philadelphia," Erlbaum said.