British Airways (BA) is returning to London Stansted Airport (STN) from May 2024 for the first time since before the pandemic.

Commencing on May 18, subsidiary BA CityFlyer will offer weekend flights from the airport to Florence, Italy, Ibiza, Spain, and Nice, France, using Embraer 190 aircraft. The move will see the company resume scheduled flights from STN after an absence of four years.

BA CityFlyer operates from London City Airport (LCY) during the week to nearly 30 short-haul destinations. The new Stansted services will complement these existing weekday services, plus recently added weekend services from Edinburgh, Scotland, to San Sebastian, Spain, and Olbia, Sardinia. 

BA initially launched flights from STN in May 2016, targeting popular European vacation destinations like Faro in Portugal, and Ibiza, Malaga and Palma in Spain. Winter-season routes included flights to Berlin and Chambery, France.

Its return to the airport increases its presence in the London market to four gateways, with about 13.8 million departure seats scheduled to operate from London Heathrow Airport during summer 2024, 1.95 million from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and 950,000 from LCY.

Alongside the planned STN resumption, the Oneworld alliance member has scheduled a new route to Agadir, Morocco, from LGW. The 4X-weekly service will be operated by BA Euroflyer from March 31.

Agadir joins Marrakech to become the second Moroccan destination on BA’s route map and returns to the carrier’s network after more than a decade. Tom Stoddart, CEO of BA Euroflyer, says he expects the route to see “strong demand” from leisure passengers.

According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, the airline will provide direct competition next summer for easyJet and TUI Airways. Additionally, easyJet serves Agadir from London Luton Airport, while Ryanair will offer flights from STN.