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BA scraps daily flights to Newquay

Saturday, August 02, 2008, 10:00

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BRITISH Airways is scrapping its daily flights to Newquay Airport because of the current financial climate.

The airline announced yesterday that it is to withdraw operations from four London Gatwick short-haul routes – including to Newquay Cornwall Airport.

Other flights have been cancelled to Dresden in Germany, Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Poznan in Poland. The airline added that plans to start two new services from Gatwick to the Continent have also been scrapped.

The cancellations are part of a programme to reduce costs.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever faced. The combination of unprecedented oil prices, economic slowdown and weaker consumer confidence has led to substantially lower first-quarter profits.”

BA restarted flights to Newquay in March and has been running midday services using Boeing 737 planes. The last BA flight to Newquay will be on Saturday October 25.

Yesterday, BA presented its interim management statement for the quarter which ended on June 30.

Mr Walsh said: “Fuel prices have doubled in the past year. A successful hedging programme mitigated the impact but nevertheless, fuel costs at £706 million were up £233 million in the quarter.

“We expect our fuel bill to top £3 billion this year – the equivalent of more than £8 million every day.

“We are well-prepared. Since year end, we have adapted our plans to reflect the fast-moving and challenging conditions. We have reduced capacity in the winter schedule without compromising our network and at the same time we have the flexibility in the business to capitalise when conditions improve.”

Air Southwest will continue to operate four daily flights on the route throughout the year, while Ryanair is continuing flights to the airport from London Stansted.

Chris Cain, project director at Newquay Airport said: “While we are naturally disappointed to see BA suspend their services having had close dialogue with them throughout, we understand the circumstances. Since BA came on the route, the market for air travel to and from London grew significantly – increasing by 20 per cent last year.”