MPs tackle airline gap
BA says it will talk to other interested operators
Transport minister and Plymouth MP David Jamieson is holding an emergency meeting of South West MPs to fight the loss of flights to London.
British Airways is to pull out of the loss-making Gatwick-Plymouth-Newquay service in October.
Business leaders in Devon say the loss of the air route could lose the region millions of pounds in potential investment.
Some bosses have also claimed it could spell the end to hundreds of jobs in the South West, including 61 BA staff at Plymouth and 10 at Newquay.
‘Lose out’
Dave Robins, of Plymouth Marine Laboratory, one of the world’s leading marine research firms, said: “The market we are in is a global business.
“We want to be able to get to our destinations as quickly and as efficiently as we can, and we want people to be able to come here.
“If they feel they can fly somewhere else in the world and get the service that they want, then we will lose out.”
Dave Springbett from the Transport and General Workers Union, said: “There’s so much money being pumped into this part of the world in terms of regional development cash that it would seem that there’s a boom going on.
“So to pull out of these routes now because they have been losing money, could be the time when they start to make money.”
Investment fears
David Evans, managing director of BA subsidiary CitiExpress, said: “We are well aware of the importance of air links between the South West and London.
“For that reason we shall be working with interested parties who may want to operate this route, and we will do everything we can to make sure that these air links are retained.”
Mr Jamieson said the government would be encouraging talks between BA and other operators.
He said: “We rely so heavily on the contacts into London, and from there into other parts of Europe and the world for inward investment.
“So it is very important that we get that sort of investment that we have enjoyed in recent years.”
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As said above it’d b nice to see FlyBE put on a Birmingham and/or Gatwick run with the Dash 8s
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