British Airways is bringing back free cups of tea and coffee for economy customers on some of its short haul flights this summer, six years after a cost-saving drive axed the service.

Sean Doyle, chief executive of BA, announced the measure by telling staff “we want to surprise and delight customers,” in a message first reported by the Sunday Times.

“What’s more delightfully British than a cup of tea? We’re looking at introducing this on some of our longer short-haul routes.”

Flights such as those to Cairo in Egypt or Amman in Jordan are typically four to five hours long, and it is those customers who will benefit from the summer offering.

Following the pandemic, which hammered airlines as borders were closed and some travellers became wary of taking flights, BA brought back some refreshments, initially as a temporary measure to welcome customers back on board and then as a permanent step.

Now teas and coffees are back on the complementary menu, on the longer-distance short haul routes.

When the refreshments were initially chopped back in 2017, the move was described as “the end of an era” and was deemed to put the premium airline more closely in competition with budget rivals such as Easyjet and Ryanair.

A BA spokesman said:  “This summer we are offering customers travelling on some of our longer short-haul flights complimentary tea and coffee as part of our surprise and delight initiative.

“This is in addition to the recently announced summer offerings including ice creams, summer-inspired menus, re-introducing pre-take off sparkling wine in World Traveller Plus, and a brand new ‘Summer Fun’ channel on our inflight entertainment.”

Before the pandemic, in June 2019 almost 200,000 flights were recorded flying into, out of and within the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In June 2020 that plunged to just over 25,000. By last month, the industry had almost completely recovered in terms of volumes, with just shy of 180,000 flights taking place.

Inflation has swept through the industry since Covid struck, with crises from travel restrictions to surging fuel prices challenging airlines.

Air fares in May were up almost one-third on the year, the ONS said. Prices are up by almost two-thirds compared with the same month before the pandemic.