In news that can be filed as “not unexpected”, Primera Air is to suspend long haul routes out of Birmingham from the 21st June, abandoning its planned summer timetable.
Primeria Air A321neo – Image, AerCap
The airline cites late delivery of Airbus A321neo aircraft as the source of their problems.
Operations from Birmingham Airport to Newark, New Jersey and Toronto will continue until the 21st June 2018.
According to the airline, passengers have been informed of the changes with the airline “ensuring that all affected passengers are compensated in compliance with EU261/2004”.
Affected passengers will be offered:
- A full refund, or
- Alternative travel from London Stansted
Passengers should contact irregularity@primeraair.com for assistance.
Andri Már Ingólfsson, CEO of Primera Air on the summer cancellation states
“The plans for the transatlantic routes have been in the making for over a year and both Primera Air and Birmingham Airport have put a lot of effort into promoting the new routes, which were welcomed by the region. Unfortunately we did not anticipate such severe Airbus delays and the prolonged hold-up has forced us to make this difficult and disappointing decision.”
Primera Air is planning to return to Birmingham in 2019 with long haul operations – when it’s Airbus fleet is delivered. The short-haul routes running to Birmingham will continue.
In the meantime, the first two A321neo fleet will focus on the London market – operating out of Stansted.
The issues with aircraft delivery with the Airbus A320neo family have been apparent for some time. With no planes, and not willing to charter a plane for the summer – the most promising market has been chosen to survive.
And that’s London Stansted.
Birmingham passengers will have to once again either make the journey to Manchester, Stansted (if they want to fly Primera Air), Gatwick (for Norwegian) or Heathrow.
With both American Airlines and United Airlines turning their back on Birmingham Airport (when they operated Boeing 757-200s on the route), will anyone want to risk launching a transatlantic service to Birmingham?
Even though I’m a local – I’m not holding my breath for an airline in shining armour to launch a service to Birmingham for the summer…
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