Luxury travellers to fill empty British Airways planes

The slump in business travel has prompted British Airways to redeploy its empty Boeing 777 planes to fly to luxury destinations including Las Vegas, Jamaica and the Maldives.

BA’s winter timetable will include six new routes, five of which are to vacation hotspots such as Sharm El-Sheikh on the Red Sea and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

The new routes are targeted at upscale resorts catering to wealthier clients who are less likely to restrain from spending in the recession.

Head of U.K. sales Richard Tams told Bloomberg that initial bookings are “very encouraging” as “there is still a very healthy market in premium leisure.”

“We chose the routes carefully where we think demand will hold up” he said.

“We don’t normally have the aircraft available, so this has given us the opportunity to build some business there.”

“The passengers are high-end travellers who not only want comfort at the resort but also on the way there.”