Annex 7
SHORTHAUL ROUTES AT HEATHROW
Table 1 of British Airways' evidence shows 18
shorthaul destinations have been removed from our network at Heathrow
since 1994. These include Basle, Bremen, Gothenburg, Hanover,
Inverness, Leipzig, Luxembourg, Lyon, Newquay, Plymouth, Oporto,
Pisa, St Petersburg, Stavanger (only operated for one year on
1pd), Turin, Thessalonika (one-stop via Turin or Stuttgart), Jersey
(from Winter 00). All but six of these routes are still served
by British Airways or its partner airlines from Gatwick.
British Airways does not hold route records
for Heathrow going back 20 years and would suggest that the CAA
is better able to provide such information, and to provide full
data on which carriers operated which routes.
In today's competitive climate we have to keep
the performance of all routes under continuous review although
we recognise the importance of regional air links with London.
Transfers from Heathrow do reflect the pressure on slots but services
have been discontinued with extreme reluctance and usually where
we have been able to continue a service at Gatwick. The majority
of services transferred by British Airways from Heathrow to Gatwick
have been longhaul.
British Airways and its partners have moved
Inverness, Plymouth and Newquay operations to Gatwick in recent
years and plan to transfer Jersey services shortly. Plymouth/Newquay
services have since increased in frequency with a 14 per cent
increase in passenger numbers; the Inverness route is now under
no financial threat despite the difficulties faced by the oil
industry in Inverness, a significant customer. Gatwick-Jersey
will receive additional flights and an all-jet weekday operation.
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