British Airways Increases Flights to Rio de Janeiro

CRAWLEY, England, May 5, 2011 - British Airways is increasing its services to Brazil by doubling its
weekly frequency to Rio de Janeiro from three to six flights.

Flights to Rio de Janeiro (
www.britishairways.com/travel/flights-to-rio-de-janeiro/public/en_gb )
will now depart Heathrow for Rio every day, except Mondays. The departure
time remains at 12.15pm, landing in Rio at 9.55pm local time. The flight will
continue to be served by a three class B777, enabling customers to choose
from World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premier economy) and
the airline's fully flat beds in Club World (business class).

Neil Cottrell, British Airways' head of network planning, said: "We are
experiencing a real increase in demand for Rio and by doubling the number of
frequencies, we are able to offer our customers more choice and greater
availability. Brazil is also experiencing strong economic growth and this
capacity increase is a great opportunity for British Airways to be part of
that growth."

Holidays in Rio de Janeiro (
www.britishairways.com/travel/rio-de-janeiro/public/en_gb ) offer
visitors white sandy beaches, rainforest clad mountains and cultural
must-sees including the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. British Airways
offers a choice of hotels including the 3* Center for a comfortable stay or
the 5* InterContinental Rio next to the Gvea Golf Club and the Fashion Mall
shopping centre. The 5* Porto Bay Rio Internacional has a rooftop swimming
pool and views of the beach while the 5* Copacabana Palace offers luxurious
accommodation opposite the famous Copacabana Beach.

British Airways commitment to Latin America has been further strengthened
by the introduction of direct flights to Buenos Aires (
www.britishairways.com/travel/flights-to-buenos-aires/public/en_gb )
in March. The daily flight now operates direct to Argentina's capital instead
of stopping off in Sao Paolo. Holidays in Buenos Aires (
www.britishairways.com/travel/buenos-aires/public/en_gb?key=buenosaire
s ) are popular for gourmet dining, vibrant nightlife and culture with plenty
of museums and art galleries.

In April, British Airways and Iberia announced the immediate start of
codesharing on a new tranche of one another's flights. This included BA
putting its code on Iberia flights from Madrid to San Jose (Costa Rica) and
Panama City while Iberia added its code to BA's Bahrain, Doha, Abu Dhabi,
Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat services. Iberia's flights to Havana started
carrying the BA code from April 15. Iberia has also added its code onto
British Airways' services to Cape Town and both airlines are now sharing
their Johannesburg flights. British Airways offers a range of quality hotels
in Cape Town (
www.britishairways.com/travel/hotels-in-cape-town/public/en_gb ) close
to museums, galleries, theatres and fine restaurants.

About British Airways:

British Airways plc offers a wide range of worldwide destinations -
holidays, hotels, flights, car rental and experiences. Customers can save
time and money with ba.com when booking ATOL protected holiday packages, ATOL
number is 5985. Passengers are offered added peace of mind to their holiday
plans and the security of travelling with British Airways. British Airways
plc constantly seeks to exceed customers' expectations, both in terms of the
value for money and quality of the service provided.

For further British Airways plc / BA Holidays ltd media information
please contact:

    Charlotte Lawrence
    Astral Towers
    Betts Way
    London Road
    Crawley
    RH10 9XA
    +44(0)1293-722513
    www.ba.com

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