bmi cut flights and jobs at Durham Tees Valley
13.09.08
bmi is reducing flight capacity and axing several jobs at Durham Tees Valley Airport. The airline, which operates 20 flights per week from Teesside to Heathrow, said it would use smaller Embraer aircraft on the route to combat falling demand and soaring fuel prices. The move is expected to lead to 60 job losses, including some at Durham Tees Valley.
Robin Tudor, head of PR at Peel Airports Group - owner of Durham Tees Valley Airport - said: ‘This reduction in capacity is nothing new; bmi did this last year. In winter there is reduced demand for using Heathrow as a connecting route to leisure destinations across Europe.'
‘We’ve factored this into our calculations and don’t anticipate a significant drop in revenues around this particular service. We have every confidence that once summer 2009 comes around, bmi will reinstate the service [use larger planes] as they did last year.’
The airline said it would maintain the frequency of its Teesside to Heathrow route, but anticipated a 10% cut in seat capacity across its operations this winter. Its Embraer aircraft has a capacity of up to 50 seats - about 100 fewer than its Airbus planes.
It would not comment on the number of potential job losses but confirmed it was in talks with unions to negotiate voluntary redundancies. The consultation period, which began yesterday, is expected to last for about 30 days.
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