The carrier last flew to the Japanese city until October 1998 and resumes the route ahead of its 70th year of flying to Tokyo in November.

Flights will take off from March 31, 2019 out of Terminal 5, arriving into Osaka’s Kansai International airport.

The new route, to be operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, takes the number of daily flights between London and Japan offered as part of BA’s joint business with Japan Airlines up to 32 each week.

Special return fares from £599pp in World Traveller, £999 in World Traveller Plus and £2,499 in Club World available to book from today (September 25).

BA is also adding four cities to its joint business agreement with Japan Airlines, with the BA code being used on flights between Tokyo Haneda and Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Komatsu and Matsuyama.

BA will launch 17 new routes this year including direct flights to Durban that start next month.