The British Airways service to London is a blockbuster of a money-spinner for the airline.

According to data from OAG, an airline flight information-service provider, the Bermuda-London route generated $172 million of revenue from July 2022 to June 2023, the most of any Bermuda air connection.

BA is the only airline with direct flights between the LF Wade International Airport and Heathrow.

The second highest grossing Bermuda route was for the John F Kennedy International Airport, which racked up $35 million over the same period.

Going down the list of total revenue for Bermuda routes, JFK was followed by: Charlotte ($30 million), Miami ($22 million), Toronto ($18 million), Boston ($14 million), Newark ($14 million), Atlanta ($12 million), Philadelphia ($10 million), LaGuardia ($2 million) and Ponta Delgada, Portugal ($1 million).

According to OAG, the Bermuda-London route ranked third in terms of average fare paid per seat for BA flights from Heathrow.

The data provider added that Bermuda seat prices are higher than those on flights to New York, Los Angeles and Lagos, which has historically been one of BA’s more expensive routes.

According to the British Airways website, a Bermuda-Heathrow return ticket booked for later this month for a trip lasting one week prices at $1,494.

Direct BA flights between JFK and LHR on the same dates price at $715 round trip.

The travel time for both flights is about seven hours.

In terms of total revenue, the Bermuda-London route is 44th for BA flights from Heathrow.

The airline serves some destinations multiple times a day, and that adds to the total revenue of some flights.

BA connects Bermuda and London daily, while it flies LHR to JKF eight times a day, not including code-shares.

OAG said that high revenue on the BDA-LHR route was not surprising given the fact that it is a monopoly service.

It said it is significant that the flight has a first-class cabin and is a daily service and that the flight originates from London Heathrow, BA’s main hub.

The airline did not respond to questions about the profitability of the Bermuda route. and declined to say whether the route is the most profitable in its network.

Revenue comparisons between routes are difficult as travel time, number of daily frequencies, number of competitors, aircraft configuration and other factors can lead to higher sales on certain routes.

The distance between Bermuda and London Heathrow is 3,430 miles, compared with the 763 miles to JFK.

The flip side is that the BDA-JFK route is served four times daily by three different carriers, twice a day by American Airlines and once a day both by JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.

Profitability is especially difficult to determine, as the type of aircraft and airport-specific costs can skew the outcome. Costs can pile on especially fast for long-haul routes over the ocean.

OAG warns that airlines can calculate operating costs in any number of ways and would not provide profitability estimates for the Bermuda-London direct flight.

A Boeing 777-200 is used for flights between London and Bermuda – BA159 outbound from London and BA158 return. It is configured with 235 seats, eight first class and 49 business class.

BA has recently been criticised for regular delays on the flight to Bermuda. Only about one third of the flights have been on-time over the past year, according to data published by Flightera.