UK airports see more route losses as crisis deepens

Manchester airport has lost five major bmi services to the US and the Caribbean and British Airways services to New York.

For 2009, British holidaymakers can expect to see higher airfares as well as fewer destination choices as carriers ditch unprofitable routes.

Over the past several months, dozens of routes have been cut at airports around the UK. Last week, Ryanair said that it would cancel all flights to Fuerteventura beginning 31 January if a dispute with local tourism officials wasn’t settled. Around 250,000 passengers travel with Ryanair annually from airports in Britain to the Spanish resort.

The Irish budget carrier stopped its services to Valencia earlier this month, due to a similar problem. It had operated services to Valencia from 10 airports, including East Midlands, Liverpool and Stansted.

Although Ryanair has said it will commence service to Alicante and Gerona from Gatwick airport, that is done at the expense of the Durham to Alicante route.

The Baginton airport in Coventry saw the end of its regularly-scheduled flights last week when Thomsonfly ended four years of low-cost services to cities around Europe.

Earlier in November, Manchester airport lost five key routes to America and the Caribbean when bmi announced that it was cancelling those routes. Shortly afterwards, BA announced that it would cut its service to New York from Manchester, as it was not profitable.

www.manchesterairport.co.uk