BA tempts top passengers with free ride in a black cab

British Airways is to lay on free London black cabs for passengers living within 100 miles of Heathrow.

Long-haul flyers in Club or First class will be entitled to a taxi from their home or office to the airport and will be picked up again on their return.

The perk, which has never been offered before by BA, starts on Monday. Its three-month trial comes after a grim winter for BA in which First and Club class bookings, which provide much of its profits, have plummeted by 15 per cent.

The launch of the service also comes days before BA's chief executive Willie Walsh is expected to announce a loss of about £225million for the year to the end of March.

Several other airlines provide a chauffeur service for premium passengers but this is thought to be the first time that a fleet of black cabs has been used.

Richard Tams, BA's head of sales for the UK and Ireland, said: "There is no better way to travel to and from Heathrow than in a black cab. You can use the M4 bus lane to beat the traffic queues and you have the most knowledgeable drivers in London at your service."

The service will not be available on some heavily discounted fares or on routes within Europe.

BA has teamed up with Computer Cab, which has allocated a fleet of 3,000 cabs, and the bill is likely to run to several millions of pounds. A typical Boeing 747 has 85 seats in the business and first class cabins. A typical one-way black cab fare to the City from Heathrow, a 17-mile journey, is £65 and to Sevenoaks, or 52 miles, it is £116.

BA's rival Virgin Atlantic has always offered a chauffeured car service for Upper Class passengers within 75 miles of Heathrow or Gatwick. BMI lays on a chauffeured car up to 50 miles from Heathrow and Emirates a 50-mile range for business class passengers and unlimited radius for First Class.

It is the latest initiative by BA to refill its emptying "premium" cabins. Over the May Bank Holiday weekend it held a two-for-one sale of Club class seats.

In the last edition of internal newspaper British Airways News, finance director Keith Williams said BA faced "a far bigger revenue crisis than 9/11".