BMI is cutting its six daily flights from London Heathrow to Manchester to four and is reviewing closing its Glasgow route it a shake up of its domestic schedule. The move follows price rises by Heathrow on domestic routes, however BAA insists the charges are not the reason, it is the lack of the third runway which has limited growth.
Although BMI has been losing money on the Glasgow route every year, it has yet to take a final decision to close it.
The review of the domestic schedule is part of BMI’s CEO, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, cost-cutting measure to slice £100 million of its annual costs. He said BAA was “unfairly penalising domestic passengers at Heathrow” and was “outraged” by the increases, as reported in The Telegraph.
BMI holds one in ten slots at Heathrow but the domestic routes have come under constant pressure from high speed rail links, low cost carriers and environmental pressure groups.