Airport looks to resume flights to capital

LEEDS Bradford International Airport is in talks to resume flights from Yorkshire to the capital following the decision by bmi to end its daily service to Heathrow.

The airport’s chief executive John Parkin said that he hoped that an announcement can be made about a new service from Leeds Bradford to London before bmi services end on March 28.

News that bmi was dropping the service to Heathrow – and bringing to an end a direct service from the region to the capital which has run since 1969 – was greeted with dismay by users of TheBusinessDesk.com, many of whom were critical of the airport in comments on this website.

However Mr Parkin confirmed that the airport has been working hard for some time to secure a new service to one of the London airports and still plans to continue with its £70m investment plan despite the economic downturn.

“We are engaged in discussions now about services to the capital. Ideally we would like to be in a position to make some announcements before bmi’s service ends at the end of March.

“It’s quite important we energise those discussions,” said Mr Parkin, who said heJohn Parkin, chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport could not reveal which airlines or London airports were involved because discussions are at a “sensitive” stage.

Responding to the criticisms levelled at the airport, Mr Parkin said: “It is not as simple as people might perceive.”

He said that the operating costs for airlines had risen including higher charges from Heathrow owner BAA combined with the costs of the Government’ Airp Passenger Duty.

“The Heathrow route was operated by bmi Mainline whereas the other routes from Leeds Bradford to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brussels are operated by bmi Regional.

“bmi Mainline is business focused and business passenger numbers are falling.”

Mr Parkin said that bmi Regional has an “active agenda” and the airport has an “ongoing dialogue” with the business.

He said that he sees German carrier Lufthansa’s takeover of bmi as a positive move.

“It’s a pretty good outcome for bmi because it is joining a very strong and robust airline.

Mr Parkin said that while the outlook for airlines is not particularly positive, LBIA is pushing ahead with its expansion plans.

“Unless the economy picks up airlines are going to be consolidating pretty severely across Europe. Our strategy is for expansion and we have a great deal of faith in the further development of the airport,” he added.

LBIA was bought by private equity firm Bridgepoint in May 2007 for £145.5m from the five West Yorkshire local authorities that owned it.

Bridgepoint – previously a shareholder at Birmingham airport – has a £70m investment programme to drive passenger numbers from the current figure of 2.9m a year to more than 5m over the next five years.

It brought in the former chief executive of Newcastle and Bristol airports, John Parkin, to spearhead the growth.

Major redevelopment work is due to be carried out to expand the terminal which will include more space for shops and food outlets.

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