British Airways links GCC to Canada's emerging oil & gas hub

"The oil and gas industry is one of the largest employers in the GCC and its executives can now link into the Calgary service with a same-day connection at Heathrow via British Airways' direct flights from the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman," said the airline's commercial manager for the Middle East and Pakistan, Paul Starrs.

Calgary will join the award-winning airline's global network of 140 destinations when the new service comes into operation on December 1st.

"Middle East links to Canada are extensive with many Canadian nationals living and working in the region and this new service also brings them closer to home,"

added Starrs.

"With 24 weekly flights this winter from the UAE to London Heathrow, including three recently added to the Dubai-Heathrow route, travellers can conveniently link into the Calgary route."

British Airways will operate a Boeing 777 on the Heathrow-Calgary route which will feature all four of the airline's acclaimed cabins - First, Club World (business), World Traveller Plus (premier economy) and World Traveller (economy).

The Calgary Airport Authority has hailed the new route as integral to a wider campaign of developing more extensive international business and leisure travel links.

"This new route opens up huge potential for tourism to Alberta and business travel to the province, particularly for its rapidly developing oil and gas sector," said Leslie Gavin, manager, passenger air service department, Calgary Airport Authority.

BA0103 will depart Heathrow at 14:55 GMT every Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and lands in Calgary at 16:55 local time.

Calgary becomes British Airways' fourth destination in Canada. The airline flies 10 times each week to Montreal, 13 times each week to Vancouver and has three daily flights to Toronto. All flights operate from London Heathrow.

British Airways currently operates 17 weekly flights to London Heathrow from Dubai and operates daily from Abu Dhabi International Airport to the UK capital's principal airport.

British Airways has recently been rewarded with six Business Traveller Magazine honours at its annual ceremony in Park Lane, London, including the prestigious 'Airline of the Year,' 'Best Long-haul Airline' and 'Best First Class' categories.