UK carrier British Midland International (BMI) has confirmed that it will axe its London Heathrow-Glasgow route, blaming the decision on increased landing charges for domestic flights from Heathrow.
A BMI spokeswoman says the seven-daily service will be dropped on 27 March, adding that the decision was made "purely because of the charges".
Heathrow operator BAA last November announced plans to overhaul its charges at Heathrow from the beginning of April to encourage airlines to operate fuller, larger aircraft.
However, BAA argues that BMI's decision to drop Glasgow was "purely a commercial one that has been on the cards for some time".
A spokesman for the airports operator says: "BMI's decision to reduce services from Glasgow to Heathrow has little to do with charges.
"BMI has taken a commercial decision to transfer slots from a loss-making domestic service to more profitable long-haul routes, in line with public statements about reducing domestic services made before our new charging structure was announced."
BMI maintains that domestic services are a "core part of our network", but says it will adopt a "stronger focus on international routes as a result of BAA's new charging structure.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
