Airline's decision 'a body blow'

Councillor Andrew Carter (Con, Pudsey North) believes the announcement by British Airways to withdraw services from Yeadon's airport will have a bad knock-on effect on the region's economy.

"It underlines growing fears of many of us that the economy is not in the robust shape that some people would have us believe and certainly the economy of our region is going to be adversely affected by BA's decision," he said.

"It is all very well having more flights from the airport which are purely holiday flights. What is needed is a strong network of flights to other major British cities and to European business destinations.

"As Leeds City Council is the major shareholder in the airport, I shall be asking for a full report on the airport's prospects of attracting high quality replacement services from other airlines to come to the Executive Board of the Council."

British Airways announced its decision to pull out of Leeds-Bradford International airport in December.

It has transferred 12 of its 29-seater Jetstream 41 aircraft to the Humberside-based Eastern Airways, which has pledged to continue some of the routes from the Yeadon airport.

Darren Roberts, of British Airways, said the decision to transfer the aircraft was to rationalise the fleet to make the business more effective.

The withdrawal from the airport will put 59 jobs at risk, including British Airways' pilots, cabin crew and engine staff.

British Airways ran services to Dublin, Gatwick, Bristol, Southampton, the Isle of Man and Aberdeen.

Eastern Airways will continue to operate services to the Isle of Man, Southampton and Aberdeen, but the other services will be lost. Ryan Air will still run its flights to Dublin.

The British Airways flights to Dublin and Bristol will finish this Sunday, flights to Aberdeen will continue until January 31 and flights to the Isle of Man, Gatwick and Southampton will continue until March 28.