BA launching LHR-MEL via KUL from January 2027 (BA33/BA34)

[transpactraveller]

Daily flights between London and Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur, from 9 January 2027

via: British Airways announces major winter 2026 expansion

Melbourne, Australia

British Airways will commence flights to Melbourne in Australia from 9 January 2027, launching in time for the Australian Open and the Melbourne Grand Prix. Flights will operate year-round from London Heathrow, via Kuala Lumpur, on a daily basis.

Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria, and is known as the country’s culture hub and world-renowned for its coffee scene. It’s also the gateway to southern Australia and its array of attractions including Grampian’s National Park, the Great Ocean Road and the High Country with its breathtaking landscapes and famed vineyards.

Customers have a choice of four cabins – World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premium economy), Club World (business class) and First. Return fares start from £1,130 (including taxes and carrier fees) and are on sale from 17 March.

 

[jrfsp]

Wow great news - bit unexpected….hopefully they will be finished the refurbs by then

 

[Mattg]

First Finnair and now BA is coming to Melbourne! Nice.

Hopefully we'll see a bit of award availability on MEL-KUL-LHR as well.

The schedule is fairly predictable:

Route	Flight number	Frequency	First Sector	Second Sector
LHR-KUL-MEL	BA33	Daily From 9 Jan 27	21:10-18:05 +1 (LHR-KUL)	19:45-06:40 +1 (KUL-MEL)
MEL-KUL-LHR	BA34	Daily From 11 Jan 27	16:35-21:35 (MEL-KUL)	23:15-05:20 +1 (KUL-LHR)

 

[Mwenenzi]

Melbourne airport media --> The best of British to serve the world’s best city

Australia’s largest 24-hour gateway will soon be better connected to the United Kingdom and Europe, with British Airways to launch daily flights from Melbourne Airport to London Heathrow Airport in January 2027. The United Kingdom’s flag carrier will operate daily services from Melbourne to London via Kuala Lumpur from January 11, with a four-class Boeing Dreamliner 787-9, featuring First, Club World (business class), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy) cabins.
<snip>
From January 9 2027, flight BA33 will depart London Heathrow daily at 21:10pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 18:05pm the following day and then into Melbourne at 6:40am the day after.

The return flight BA34 will commence from January 11, departing Melbourne Airport at 16:35pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 21:35pm and then into London Heathrow at 5:20am the next morning.
<snip>

What are the odds some Victorian tax payer "incentives" are involved?

 

[transpactraveller]

First Finnair and now BA is coming to Melbourne! Nice.

Hopefully we'll see a bit of award availability on MEL-KUL-LHR as well.

The schedule is fairly predictable:

Route	Flight number	Frequency	First Sector	Second Sector
LHR-KUL-MEL	BA33	Daily From 9 Jan 27	21:10-18:05 +1 (LHR-KUL)	19:45-06:40 +1 (KUL-MEL)
MEL-KUL-LHR	BA34	Daily From 11 Jan 27	16:35-21:35 (MEL-KUL)	23:15-05:20 +1 (KUL-LHR)

Very similar timing to every other flight to London via Asia. Why does everyone want a 5am arrival into LHR?

 

[serfty]

Daily flights between London and Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur, from 9 January 2027

via: British Airways announces major winter 2026 expansion

About the turn of the century, BA did fly LHR-KUL-SYD. Shortly before it was discontinued there were some very cheap return fares to KUL using the service. ex MEL it would book BA codeshares on QF metal to/from SYD. (It was a shock to receive just 110 Qantas points for MEL/SYD in discount economy.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Very similar timing to every other flight to London via Asia. Why does everyone want a 5am arrival into LHR?

Agree.

Why not return back at 830am (or 930 if they’re worried about delays) and have a same day evening arrival into London? Go straight to hotel, sleep, and be on UK time the next morning?

Now the plane is sitting for ten hours on the ground.

 

[MelbFlyer]

As long as there's zero chance of the horrible ying-yang 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 business class cabins, this could be a good option going to Asia using the 5th freedom leg.

 

[transpactraveller]

Agree.

Why not return back at 830am (or 930 if they’re worried about delays) and have a same day evening arrival into London? Go straight to hotel, sleep, and be on UK time the next morning?

Now the plane is sitting for ten hours on the ground.

Even just a few hours later departure from Australia to arrive in London mid-morning instead of 5am. These flights are often early and the QF PER-LHR often arrives closer to 4:30am!

Perhaps it's slot constraints at LHR?

 

[markis10]

About the turn of the century, BA did fly LHR-KUL-SYD. Shortly before it was discontinued there were some very cheap return fares to KUL using the service. ex MEL it would book BA codeshares on QF metal to/from SYD.

In the eighties and nineties BA tag flew it with a SYD-MEL sector, jumpseated a couple of times and each one the captain put on gloves prior to takeoff.

 

[AIRwin]

About the turn of the century, BA did fly LHR-KUL-SYD.

BA also did fly LHR-SIN-MEL and I travelled on the return fifth freedom leg BA18.

 

[Quickstatus]

Very similar timing to every other flight to London via Asia. Why does everyone want a 5am arrival into LHR?

BA controls over half of slots at LHR. Its slot utilisation is near 100%
MEL is not the only airport it is expanding to. The page also has a caveat at the bottom mentioning slot constaints.
Perhaps it had a spare early morning landing slot and evening slots are already heavily utilised?

But yes I would prefer an evening arrival in to LHR.

 

[elanshin]

I wonder how much MEL - KUL traffic BA will pick up.
Will provide an alternative to MH for that traffic route which can actually get pretty busy on that corridor.

That said I'm not sure this is a better product than MHs new a330-900s. If we're going on to London, I'm not sure if this is better than the other options out there especially via SIN.

I imagine they're actually targeting UK based heading to MEL and providing a 1 stop option on their own airline. Plenty of people in UK wed to BA like many Aussies are to QF.

 

[mviy]

For me it will come down to price/availability. If BA is cheaper than QF in J, then especially if booking revenue J, I’ll probably go with whichever is cheaper of SYD-LHR and MEL-LHR

 

[mbe1510]

Melburnians will be stoked that it will have more direct connections to Europe than Sydney with Finnair, BA and Qantas recommencing QF9/10.

Great to see more carriers besides Middle Eastern and Asian enter the market

 

[AIRwin]

Melburnians will be stoked that it will have more direct connections to Europe than Sydney with Finnair, BA and Qantas recommencing QF9/10.

And Turkish?

 

[bcworld]

And Turkish?

LOL...this always sets people off.

 

[Happy Trails]

As long as there's zero chance of the horrible ying-yang 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 business class cabins, this could be a good option going to Asia using the 5th freedom leg.

There is a high chance according to Ausbt - I'd rather walk:

The London-Melbourne route will feature a British Airways Boeing 787-9.

However, it’s not yet clear if this will be one of the Dreamliners which have been upgraded with BA’s latest first and business class suites, or if it will retain the current dated premium cabins.

In the short term, we’d put money on the later: which means, yes, those crowded 2-3-2 business class beths. (sic)

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/british-airways-launches-london-melbourne-flights

 

[dajop]

Perhaps it's slot constraints at LHR?

BA controls over half of slots at LHR. Its slot utilisation is near 100%
MEL is not the only airport it is expanding to. The page also has a caveat at the bottom mentioning slot constaints.
Perhaps it had a spare early morning landing slot and evening slots are already heavily utilised?

This service isn't utilising additional slots at LHR. It's an extension of existing BA 33/34 that currently operates LHR-KUL

 

[mviy]

As long as there's zero chance of the horrible ying-yang 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 business class cabins, this could be a good option going to Asia using the 5th freedom leg.

I think a lot depends on whether there are further delays on getting new seats installed.

If they haven’t finished by the time this route’s launched, you could always fly well after it’s launched when the chances of all being refurbished would be higher.