Bmibaby cuts regional routes
Five routes are being suspended by Bmibaby from Birmingham next summer.
Services being dropped between March 29 and October 24 are to Rome, Milan, Lisbon, Madrid and Bordeaux.
This will leave the budget carrier with 16 routes from the airport in summer 2009.
Bmibaby is also suspending routes from Manchester to Madrid and East Midlands to Prague for next summer.
The cuts will lead to the loss of 65 jobs at Birmingham and five at East Midlands.
The budget airline said it was commencing a 30 day consultation period with unions and staff representatives “in order to minimise the impact of potential compulsory job lossesâ€.
A spokesman said: “These seasonal summer 2009 routes are being suspended in response to a weakening of consumer demand, which is being impacted upon by the current economic climate and its unpredictability.
“Travellers are now booking to fly to typical sun destinations for their annual holiday, rather than flying to the more impulsive short-break city destinations.
“In sharp contrast, the key Mediterranean routes from Birmingham are performing extremely well and bmibaby will continue to operate flights to the following destinations: Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Palma Mallorca, Nice, Barcelona, Murcia, Amsterdam, Prague, Edinburgh, Belfast International, Glasgow International, Ireland West Knock, Cork, Aberdeen and Geneva.”
Passengers holding bookings for the suspended routes will be contacted by the airline be offered a full refund. Alternatively they can transfer free of charge to another bmibaby.
The airline said it was committed to flying from Birmingham International Airport with 10,000 flights planned to and from the airport in 2009.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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