More airline routes cut as slump hits harder

Many budget airlines are withdrawing unprofitable routes to dozens of destinations

November 2008

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British holidaymakers are going to notice that their choice of destinations will become more limited as many airlines mainly the budget airlines are withdrawing from many unprofitable routes.

Earlier this month Ryanair withdrew its services to Valencia and has just announced that its route to Fuerteventura one of the Canary Islands will stop from January 2009. In the UK Coventry Airport lost its only scheduled operator Thomsonfly when the operator pulled out of all its low cost flights to European cities.

Manchester Airport has lost five routes to the USA with BMI and flights from Manchester to New York have also been withdrawn by British Airways these being unprofitable and the last remaining international service from a regional airport.

In London services have also been cut from Heathrow and Gatwick, namely London to Calcutta, Dhaka, Zurich and Dublin and internal services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester have been reduced from Gatwick.

Flyglobespan has also announced a number or cut backs to its service including the cancellation of a new route from Aberdeen to Eygpt and a withdrawal of its flights from Aberdeen to Barcelona and Lanzarote.

With airlines such as Easyjet announcing a fall in profits of 45% it is obvious that these cuts in airline routes may be just the start of a more vigorous initiative.

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