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Richard Lutz’s Blog

YANKED OFF

24-11-2009

The sky

A blow for Birmingham Airport- another airline has pulled out, according to Richard Lutz.

US Airways, which offered a five times a week service to the States, is killing off its Birmingham route.

It offered flights to and from Philadelphia which, geographically, is a handy jumping off point for New York and Washington. It tried the route from May to September and, according to the airport, more than 27,000 passengers used the connection.

It was going to re-start the Philadelphia operation again in the spring of 2010 - but now it won’t go ahead with the service.

Birmingham Airport, which has always had trouble keeping its North American links, said today it was ‘still hopeful’ that US Airways would return in 2011.

Its Chief Executive. Paul Kehoe said: “Although this is disappointing news, we are comforted by the knowledge that demand to Philadelphia from the Midlands was significant, with load factors nearly 80% full. ‘

In a press statement, he pointed to competitively low fares from Heathrow being a main problem. Another was the recession.

Birmingham now has only a single daily American service - Continental flies to New York via Newark Airport.

The Philadelphia cancellation marks a bad run for Birmingham’s transatlantic direct flights. Its American Airways link to Chicago was axed as were BA direct flights to New York and Toronto.

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