Transatlantic flights to Canada from Leeds-Bradford International Air-port have been cancelled after a slump in the number of people using the service.

Canadian tour operating company Globespan has pulled the plug on the flights.

It follows the news that Concorde will fly for one last time from the Yorkshire airport in June. British Airways withdrew the flight to concentrate on more lucrative flights out of London.

Today, Globespan managing director Tom Dalrymple, who started the company in 1974, said he was baffled by the lack of passengers.

And he said the demand for flights to Canada in other parts of the country had risen.

"We were sad that we had to stop the flight and we are still continuing to reassess the situation," he said. "If there was any way of us reinstating the service then we would do."

He said the rise in fuel prices was another major factor in the demise of the Canadian flights from the Yorkshire airport.

The service, which ran between May and October once a week for five years, was also having to collect passengers at Birmingham because the plane was so empty.

"We would have considered continuing the flights in the year 2000. But the increase in fuel prices made the whole operation not worth the risk. It was just costing too much."

Putting up prices on the flights was not an option, said Mr Dalrymple, because a massive supply of North Atlantic seats meant that prices elsewhere were coming down.

Councillor Tony Cairns (Lab, Tong), Bradford Council's representative on the Leeds-Bradford International Airport committee, said: "We are very disappointed with the decision but it does not reflect on the airport, which is going from strength to strength. And I'm sure that gap will be taken up by other destinations."

Figures show that the number of passengers using Leeds-Bradford International Airport reached almost 1.5 million last year.

Leeds-Bradford International Airport's head of marketing, Philip Firth, said: "It was a late decision by Globespan to pull out so we did not have enough time to replace the flights with another company this summer. We are hoping to do so by the summer of 2001."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.