bmi today confirmed that it is to suspend its once a day return service between Inverness and London Heathrow. The route was launched in March 2004 and despite significant investment in marketing and promotion and the availability of attractive competitive fares it has failed to achieve an acceptable level of performance. Future bookings indicate little prospect for sufficient improvement in performance and the company has decided to terminate the route at the end of the winter timetable (29 March 2008).
Peter Spencer, bmi managing director, said: “We are very disappointed that there has been insufficient demand to operate a viable profitable operation but load factors have not been sufficiently high enough to sustain the service. Charges such as the punitive APD (air passenger duty) that affect domestic travellers in particular have made fares higher, and the inflation-busting airport charge increases that have been implemented at Heathrow over the last few years - which are set to grow even faster from April 2008 - also puts further pressure on short haul services such as Inverness.
“We acknowledge the efforts that Inverness Airport have made to assist bmi in the continuation of the route through the level of fees at Inverness Airport. We also appreciate their lobbying regarding proposed fees and increases at Heathrow and the disproportionate structure of charging adopted by BAA. However, despite these efforts the route is just not a viable proposition due to the cost of the operation and the limited passenger volumes that it attracts.”
Passengers holding reservations will be offered alternative services or a full refund.
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