The island’s air passengers have been dealt a further blow with news that British Airways is to significantly reduce its service to London City airport before the end of the year.
The carrier will cut its three-times daily important business link to a single daily flight from September, citing low passenger numbers on the current service.
The news follows Loganair’s withdrawal of ‘unsustainable’ daily routes between Ronaldsway and Glasgow and Edinburgh – which ended yesterday (Sunday) – and the uncertainty over links with Gatwick after Flybe sold its landing slots at the London airport, confirming its four -times daily service will end in March next year.
There are concerns in the business community that BA’s revised timetable is not fit for purpose, with chairman of SMP Partners Ltd Steve McGowan labelling the move ‘a disaster for Isle of Man residents and businesses’.
Mr McGowan said: ‘London is a critical destination and connecting hub for the island and these changes create significant problems for business and personal needs.
‘The new BA schedule to London City from September is pretty useless and it will disappear quite quickly because people won’t use it as it serves little purpose. The new flight lands in the Isle of Man and takes off again within the hour, so no hope of a day trip anymore – which will mean overnight stays in the island or London are required, hence additional accommodation costs for travellers.’
BA returned to Ronaldsway after a gap of some five years in May last year, initially only operating a once daily service to London City.
This increased to three flights each weekday plus one on Saturdays and two on Sundays from late June, operated by a 50-seat aircraft.
Sue Redmond, media relations manager for UK regions at British Airways, said the latest move was a reflection of apparent demand.
She added that while the winter timetable – which will run from September to March 2014 – would only involve one flight a day, it would be carried out by a larger 70-seat jet aircraft.
‘The problem is we haven’t seen the expected numbers of passengers using the route. We are really disappointed, but we cannot continue at the current rate,’ said Mrs Redmond.
‘There’s no one-day trip capability, because the current aircraft will be used on a different route. We have to use the aircraft available.’
She said if forward bookings were healthy enough, BA will look to increase the service again next year.
At the time of the announcement, it was not possible to book island flights to London City beyond October 27 on the BA website, leading to speculation the route could be dropped altogether, though Mrs Redmond said this was not the case.
‘British Airways are in consultation with people in the island,’ she said. ‘We’ve expressed our disappointment with the lack of passengers, but it’s in everybody’s interest to keep the route going, and keep it successful.’
The move also adds to the debate over the island’s open skies policy, which allows airlines free access to fly routes, but which critics argue offers no incentive for carries to invest long-term in their Ronaldsway services.
Mr McGowan is one such critic. ‘It seems our views and needs are not accounted for. Surely now is the time to cancel our open skies policy and work with airlines that benefit Isle of Man residents,’ he said.
‘The government needs to act quickly to stem this potential disaster. If we do not deal with this quickly it will have a massive impact on Manx companies trying to do business and companies will look to relocate or do business away from the Isle of Man. This is a very serious problem.’
In the UK, a £10 million ‘Regional Air Connectivity Fund’ has been announced by Westminster, which could help safeguard air links between London and areas such as the Scottish Highlands, to ensure that ‘regions outside England’s new high speed rail network also benefited from stronger transport links’.