News: BA Connect scrap Belfast to Birmingham route
Flights > News > # 854 (03/08/2006)
BA Connect are shelving their route between Belfast City and Birmingham on August 21.
British Airways’ no-frills offshoot currently operate four flights a day between the two cities, but have struggled to compete with budget specialists Flybe and BMI Baby (who use Belfast International).
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Comment:
It was surprising that BA Connect ever started this route in the first place, considering the existing level of competition from Flybe and BMI Baby (Belfast International). Cynics might have suggested that this was a retaliatory move for Flybe starting competition against BA Connect on the Manchester to Belfast City route, but one assumes that there must have been a more sensibly thought out business case. The market for flights to Belfast is clearly a substantial one, but when it is already spread between two airports, how much room can there be for more competition? Granted, passengers want good value fares, and more competition usually helps bring prices down, but on a route where there is a reasonably large proportion of business travellers, frequency is also extremely important. Here we certainly had a case of two being company, but three being a crowd, resulting in an embarrassing retreat for BA's new regional brand.
