(Bloomberg) -- British Airways will return to London Stansted airport next summer for the first time since the pandemic, taking on discount specialist Ryanair Holdings Plc at its biggest base.

The airline will begin weekend flights to Florence, Ibiza and Nice on May 18 as part of its BA Cityflyer operations, it said in a statement Tuesday. Flown with Embraer 190 aircraft, the Stansted services will complement existing weekday services from London City, along with recently added weekend services from Edinburgh to Spain and Italy. 

Ryanair flies from Stansted to more than 100 destinations, and British Airways will seek to compete through premium options to the three European destinations. The airline said it will be the only short-haul carrier from Stansted to offer business class. 

The move comes as the UK government looks at overhauling the way it allocates lucrative take-off and landing slots, in a bid to restrict the leasing out of slots by major airlines monopolizing capacity at airports like Heathrow and Stansted. Unused slots could instead be allocated to other airlines under the proposals. 

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