Regional carrier Flybe is dropping its route between Gatwick and Leeds Bradford on March 31, citing Gatwick’s policy of limiting smaller, regional aircraft landing at the airport.
The carrier launched three-times daily flights between the two airports in June 2009, following Bmi’s decision to pull off the route (see online news April 20, 2009).
But less than two years later the service is being dropped, with Flybe saying that the suspension of the route is “a direct consequence of the policies being implemented by Gatwick to limit the number of smaller, regional aircraft landing at their airport”.
The carrier said the airport’s decision “to raise substantially the landing fees for regional aircraft - while implementing significantly smaller rises for larger, more polluting and noisier long-haul aircraft - will hit hard the regions of Yorkshire and the Humber who rely on air links to the capital”.
Flybe added that more than 50,000 passengers flew the Gatwick-Leeds route in 2010, and added that it “remains committed to operating its remaining routes at both London Gatwick and Leeds Bradford airports”.
The move means there will no longer be a direct air link between London and Leeds. Other routes served by Flybe from Leeds include Aberdeen, Belfast, Exeter and Southampton.
For more information visit flybe.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
For our special report on large-scale regeneration projects in Leeds, see Leeds means business in the February 2011 edition of Business Traveller.
