All change for Birmingham’s US air routes

Birmingham Airport will be without a transatlantic route for the first time in 20 years in October, following the announcement this week by United Airlines that it is axing its service to New York (Newark).

However, the absence will only be temporary. In a timely turn of fortune for the Midlands airport, the low-cost airline Primera Air this week unveiled plans to run new flights to the Big Apple, as well as Boston, beginning next May.

United Airlines told passengers that anyone booked to fly after October 5 would be offered refunds or seats on an alternative flight. The airline cited the route’s “poor financial performance” as the reason for its disappearance from the schedule.

But days later, Primera Air said it would be launching a daily service to New York (Newark) and fourtimes weekly service to Boston, with tickets on sale now.

William Pearson, the aviation development director at Birmingham Airport, said: “This is a brand-new route from Birmingham so we are delighted that Primera Air will give people from the region the opportunity to visit this city direct from their local airport.”

Primera Air will base its new Airbus A321 Neos at the second city’s airport. The viability of a route to the US was called into question in January this year when American Airlines decided to drop its Birmingham to New York (JFK) route just one year after it had gone into operation.

United also announced it would be suspending its routes between New York and Glasgow and Shannon over the winter, while Primera Air said it would be launching new transatlantic routes from Stansted, too. Flights from the Essex airport to New York (Newark) will begin in April.