British Airways launches London-Melbourne flights
The daily flights brings welcome competition on the Kangaroo Route.
By David Flynn, March 17 2026
British Airways is spreading its wings with the start of daily flights to Melbourne in January 2027.
A four-class Boeing 787-9 will connect Melbourne and BA’s London Heathrow hub, with the 23-hour journey including a 1h40m stopover at Kuala Lumpur.
- from January 9 2027, flight BA33 will depart London Heathrow daily at 9:10pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 6:05pm the following day and then into Melbourne at 6:40am the day after
- from January 11 2027, the return flight BA34 departs Melbourne Airport at 4:35pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 9:35pm and then into London Heathrow at 5:20am the next morning
The individual legs between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur will also be available to book on their own.
BA's new 787 first class is on the way to Melbourne.
British Airways previously flew the Kangaroo Route as London-Singapore-Melbourne in 2006.
Its return will not only boost capacity in the AU-UK skies but also unlock options for points-based reward seats bookable using either BA’s Avios currency or Qantas Points.
Tickets are now on sale, and as our UK friends at Head for Points note, “British Airways guarantees the release of 14 seats for Avios redemption on every flight it operates”, with the following breakdown:
- four seats in Club World business class
- two seats in World Traveller Plus premium economy
- eight seats in World Traveller economy
BA's latest 787 Club Suites business class feature sliding doors and plenty of personal space.
This Melbourne flight is an extension to the existing London-Kuala Lumpur service which BA launched in April 2025.
As is the case with the Singapore stopover of the London-Sydney BA15/BA16 services, travellers will be required to leave the plane at Kuala Lumpur and take all cabin baggage with them.
The flagship Golden Lounges of Oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines will provide a pit-stop for business and first class passengers, along with BA Club Silver and Gold frequent flyers and their Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald equivalents (including Qantas Golds and Platinums).
Malaysia Airlines' business class lounge at Kuala Lumpur.
The January 2027 start of these British Airways flights will follow the October 2026 debut of daily Finnair flights from Melbourne to Helsinki, further opening up the skies between Melbourne and Europe.
BA’s Melbourne-London Dreamliner
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.
BA would obviously like to put its best foot forward for the Melbourne launch, but at the time of writing it appears that only one of 18 Boeing 787-9s has been fitted with the new product.
While the January 2027 launch leaves plenty of time for more Dreamliners to receive their makeover, it’s possible the newest BA seats and suites might not appear on Melbourne-London until well into 2027.
Also read: BA leak details new-look A380
09 Feb 2021
Total posts 23
Qantas has, surprisingly, continued to ignore KUL altogether, so this is a welcome development for anyone looking to travel to Malaysia.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Oct 2016
Total posts 194
I am sure QF are considering the A321XLR, but, MH is very strong , MEL-KUL x3 daily, no one in their right mind would choose the old BA seat over even the old MH 1-2-2, leave alone the Neo suite
Actually, l did MEL-CGK last week and was thinking this is probably the last time I do this in the A330, bet it becomes an A321XLR as soon as they can, same as BNE-MNL
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 May 2012
Total posts 95
Lets hope not, I take this flight every month. Saves heaps of time by not transiting in Sydney and and almost all flights are very full.
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1276
QF do now codeshare of MH's flights to KUL though the price differential between buying from QF or direct from MH is huge given all the difference is basically a few more status credits.
20 Nov 2015
Total posts 604
It hasn't yet been confirmed if BA will be allowed to sell MEL-KUL flights. And MEL-KUL is already solidly flown by MH with 3 flights per day. But sure, inject the usual whinge about Qantas just because you can.
31 Mar 2014
Total posts 404
BA won't be doing this without being able to sell Melbourne to KL only tickets. It would make absolutely no financial sense.
11 Sep 2015
Total posts 269
True that as now confirmed, MEL-KUL can be sold on its own. But TK does SYD-KUL-IST and doesn't sell the SYD-KUL sector? Probably better for them if they could!
13 Apr 2020
Total posts 17
It’s good to see some options (re)emerging beyond the middle-eastern carriers from Melbourne to Europe. I’m also glad BA isn’t flying via an already-too-well-served Singapore and picked KL instead.
11 Sep 2015
Total posts 269
Yes, a bit like Finnair choosing Bangkok for its stopover between Melbourne and Helsinki and being able to sell MEL-BKK flights on their own, a nice alternative to Thai and Jetstar!
08 May 2020
Total posts 67
Definitely, I think it's quite smart because KUL is only a hop skip and jump from SIN so if either BA33/34 or BA15/16 get into trouble then they've presumably got more options for rerouting
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 866
So there's roughly a 10 hour and 8 hour delay in KUL on the sectors out of and back to LHR. Even with lounge access, that doesn't appeal to me AT ALL. I wonder if BA will offer pax - at no additional cost - the option to stag the KUL-MEL/KLU-LHR sector by, say, up to three (3) days to enjoy a stop-over in KL? Turkish Airlines do something similar at Istanbul. Like Singapore, KL is one very family friendly city.
11 Sep 2015
Total posts 269
Where do you get those 8-10 hour delays from? The timings for BA's LHR-KUL-MEL flights seem pretty much on par with LHR-SIN-SYD. Depart at 9pm, get into KUL at 6pm, then probably 90m-120m stopover and you'd take off at 7:30pm-8pm and land in MEL at 6:40am, that's about the same as MH147 which leaves KUL at 8:30pm and lands in MEL at 6:55am. Definitely cant see any 8hjr or 10hr 'delays' at KUL.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 866
Good call, my mistake.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Nov 2017
Total posts 26
1:40hr transit in both directions
BA33
LHR 9:10 PM 6:05 PM+1 KUL
KUL 7:45 PM 6:40 AM+1 MEL
BA34
MEL 4:35 PM 9:35 PM KUL
KUL 11:15 PM 5:20 AM+1 LHR
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 866
You're 100% correct (unlike my mental math). Thanks.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 156
Yet again another airline has found it worthwhile flying from MEL to EU but the national airline can't.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 May 2012
Total posts 95
London, Rome, Paris.... are they not in Europe.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that Qantas and all other airlines are running a business and fly to destinations that they can fill planes on and make profit?
So because you may want to fly from say Adelaide to Athens as an example, QF should run a flight? Ans the other 365 days of the year X 250 seats?
06 Jun 2017
Total posts 62
Adelaide to Athens is a lot different than Melbourne to London!
13 Apr 2020
Total posts 17
Qantas is resuming the Melbourne leg of QF9/QF10 from October so there will also be that one-stop route to London via Perth
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 May 2014
Total posts 14
My very first long haul flight was BA from LHR-KUL on a Lockheed Tristar with a stopover in the original AUH round terminal that seemed very impressive at the time. Even though flying business class there was no lounge access at AUH during the stop over. Way back in 1988, and the new Club World had just been introduced.
BAEC
10 Jul 2019
Total posts 20
A note on seating.
I have a booking on BA15 in early August this year and the seating plan has now been updated to reflect the new Club Suite lay-out, considering these flights are scheduled to begin 4 months later I feel it would be fairly safe to assume that BA33/34 will also have the Club Suites, also the current BA33/34 often sees the refurbished aircraft on rotation.
08 May 2020
Total posts 67
Still only 1/18 aircraft converted so far. If I recall correctly they were working through an aircraft every 6 weeks for the 787-8 conversions, ramping up to double speed towards the end - hopefully they prioritise their Australian routes because that would push conversions beyond the end of the year.
25 Oct 2019
Total posts 10
Just what we need, another morning arrival into Melbourne, and another evening arrival into asia. We desperately need a flight pair to replace EK404/405. Arriving in Singapore in the morning as opposed to all currently evening arrivals was a godsend.
17 Nov 2023
Total posts 72
This would be exciting news if the taxes on BA redemption bookings (on the QF website) weren't so outrageously high!
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1618
Guaranteed release of 4 business award seats per plane. Qantas has to listen!
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