NEWS: British Airways announces exciting new route to Arctic Circle and JetBlue US codeshares about to be announced

I’m excited by the latest destination announced by BA this morning after a visit to the Arctic Circle to Bodo in Norway last year. British Airways has confirmed that it will launch its first ever flight to Tromsø, Norway, this winter.

Operating from 1 December 2024, Tromsø will become the airline’s most northernly destination globally and is available for customers to book now.

The Norwegian city is known as being one of the best places in the world to see the Northern lights known as aurora borealis, thanks to its central position in the northern lights’ oval. With average winter temperatures ranging from 0°C to -5°C, the destination’s abundant snowfall also lends itself to winter activities including skiing, mountaineering and whale watching.

The city is also a great place for Christmas markets. The city’s most picturesque market and its Christmas tree is located in the main square, Stortorget.

Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, said: “Those who missed the northern lights in the UK need not worry! We are excited to welcome Tromsø to our route network – it is a growing winter leisure market thanks to its abundance of cold-weather activities and we’ll be the only premium carrier operating there from the UK. We’ve optimised the schedule for three- and four-night trips, which we know are perfect for a destination like this.”

While you may think of Norway as expensive, I found it to be similar to London’s, at the high end. Hotels were much cheaper, so it was not prohibitively expensive. 

Here is the schedule, which will be on an A320neo (no center tray in Club).

British Airways Holidays has holidays such as three nights on a room-only basis at the Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromso from £379pp, travelling in January 2025. Includes economy (Euro Traveller) return flights from London Heathrow and one checked bag at 23kg per person. Book by 31 May 2024 at www.ba.com/holidays

Return flights in economy are available now from £153 and will run twice a week until 27 March 2025. Sadly the Club Europe flights are bonkers expensive (like most of them at the moment) at £650+ return. Avios seats have also been released. 

Customers can take skiing or snowboarding equipment as part of their checked baggage so long as the bag is within 190 x 75 x 65cm.

You can check prices and book on ba.com.

British Airways JetBlue codeshare about to launch?

You can currently earn and redeem Avios on JetBlue through Qatar’s Privilege scheme, but you cannot do the same with BA. According to aviation journalist Seth Miller, who is usually a reliable source, JetBlue is due to announce a substantial code share agreement with BA for US domestic connections and the Caribbean. This will give more coverage for those wishing to go to smaller airports, as AA’s coverage on the East Coast can be quite patchy. 

JetBlue and British Airways plan to launch extensive codeshare operations between North America and Europe. Initial routes listed are impressive.#AvGeek$JBLU pic.twitter.com/nduxe6h0Fn

— Seth Miller (@WandrMe) May 22, 2024

Although AA and JetBlue already have a codeshare, you can’t earn BA tier points or Avios with them as JetBlue is a non-oneworld airline which means it does not qualify. The only exception to this rule is the Qantas/Emirates codeshare. 

JetBlue offers a transcontinental service between the East and West Coast with good flatbed seats and great “mint” service, similar to the transatlantic service I reviewed here. Adding a transcontinental service to get to the West Coast is a great way to get extra tier points as it gives 140TP each way. So if this news is correct, it is good news all round.