UK gains five long-haul routes starting March 30

The UK is set to add five long-haul flight routes starting on March 30 and March 31. These routes include flights with maximum block times of seven hours or more. The UK ranks second in the world for long-haul flights, just behind the US. London Heathrow is the airport with the most long-haul departures globally. On March 30, northern carriers will change to their summer schedules, leading to these new long-haul routes. More services are expected to begin later in the season when demand rises. The new routes include flights to Saudi Arabia and Canada. Air Canada is returning to the London-Ottawa route after five years. It will offer up to nine daily flights to six Canadian cities this summer. The first flight, AC889, departs from Heathrow at 14:05 and lands in Ottawa at 16:25 local time. Other new flights include Gulf Air starting a service from Bahrain to Gatwick. Virgin Atlantic will launch flights to Riyadh and Toronto. The flight to Riyadh is influenced by a new codeshare agreement with Saudia. The Toronto route marks Virgin's return to Canada after several years. Wizz Air will also begin daily flights from Gatwick to Jeddah. This addition will increase the number of daily flights between London and Saudi Arabia, competing with services from BA and Saudia. With these new routes, Heathrow will have a total of nine daily flights to Toronto, a significant increase in capacity for this popular destination.