British Airways' new route to Monrovia will strengthen oneworld’s position in western Africa

British Airways (BA) is stepping up its presence in western Africa with a new service to Monrovia Roberts International Airport commencing 05-Nov-2012. Currently only two European airlines operate to Liberia's capital, Brussels Airlines and Air France, and BA's new service will indubitably challenge the leading position of Brussels Airlines in the small but high yielding Europe to Liberia market.

Transfer traffic from the US contributes notably to the load and profitability of European services to Liberia, and British Airways with its extensive trans-Atlantic network is well placed to capture a sizeable part of this market. BA's new flight to Monrovia will tag-on to the existing flight from London Heathrow to Freetown in Sierra Leone, which is a former bmi route and is presently operated twice a week with A330 that BA inherited from its acquisition of bmi. BA will operate the new London Heathrow-Freetown-Monrovia route with a smaller capacity Boeing 767-300ER in a three class configuration with 189 seats.