Airline ends vital business link for Scotland
Sunday, 01 Feb, 2011
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Bmi has confirmed that it will suspend its Heathrow to Glasgow service because of increases in airport operator BAA’s domestic passenger charges at the London airport.
The airline recently warned that the move was in the offing when it met with Scottish MPs to discuss the devastating effect of the new charges which are effective from April 1. The charge is set to rise from £13 to £20.
The seven daily flights between Heathrow and the Scottish city will stop on March 27.
The news will be a blow to the Scottish economy as the service is much used by business travellers.
A statement from Bmi said: “In light of the imposed increases by BAA, Bmi has launched a complaint under section 41 of the Airports Act 1986 and has asked the CAA to investigate BAA as it believes the airport operator is unreasonably discriminating against domestic passengers and domestic operators from London Heathrow.
It added: “Bmi is committed to Scotland and Northern Ireland and regards its UK and Ireland network as part of its core business and will continue to focus on strongholds like Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Belfast City, each operating six times a day, and to Dublin operating five times a day.”
There are 138 Bmi staff at Glasgow airport and the airline has admitted that a number of them are at risk of redundancy.
Meanwhile the airline has also announced that from April it will offer new services from Heathrow to Bergen and Stavanger in Norway and also to Casablanca and Marrakech.
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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