Flight numbers at Manchester airport fall sharply

Flight and passenger traffic at Manchester airport have dropped sharply, with the airport reporting 2,500 fewer flights each month.

As economic conditions cause airlines to struggle to survive, Manchester has seen more than 500 of its international flights withdrawn, including 200 long-haul services.

Last month, the airport handled nearly 200,000 fewer passengers than in October of 2007.

Bmi has become the latest airline to cut its long-haul flights.

The carrier announced that its daily service to Chicago will end in January, and services to the Caribbean and Las Vegas will be discontinued after Easter, which threatens 140 jobs.

Last weekend, British Airways operated its final flight from Manchester to New York.

Both airlines have transferred aircraft to Heathrow, saying that declining passenger numbers and increased competition from other carriers have led to their decisions.

The moves by bmi and BA follow the failure of XL airways and the budget long-haul carrier Zoo, both of which operated transatlantic services from Manchester.

Bmi’s chief executive, Nigel Turner, said: “Our Manchester long haul services are unsustainable. They’ve never performed to the levels we had hoped. Chicago has been at best a moderate success up to this year.”

He went on to say: “However, a combination of higher fuel prices, increased competition and the impact of open skies at Heathrow has had a serious negative impact on its viability.”

The airline exec said to staff that Manchester “cannot deliver the levels of premium business that are available from the London market,” and that Manchester passengers were “buying purely on price.”

Thanks to www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.manchesterairport.co.uk