The airline that operates flights between Dundee and London says it believes the route will ”continue to thrive” in the face of possible competition.
CityJet was commenting after Virgin Atlantic confirmed that it wants to start flights between Heathrow and the airports at Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
That could offer travellers from Tayside and Fife more alternatives to using CityJet’s service to London City airport.
However, a spokesman for the company said: “The service from Dundee is important to CityJet and we see Dundee airport as a great asset to the region.
“CityJet remain as committed as ever to providing business and leisure passengers in the Tayside region with direct travel to the heart of London. We believe the Dundee community feel the benefit of this service and the route out of Dundee will continue to thrive.”
Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce has held talks with CityJet over the frequency and cost of its flights, although it has also urged the local business community to support the link to London City.
Virgin Atlantic is bidding to win landing slots made available as a result of the takeover of airline bmi by Spanish firm International Airline Group, the parent company of British Airways. It has also appealed against the European Commission’s decision to approve the takeover.
A Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said: “We believe the deal will cause serious competitive harm at Heathrow, placing British Airways in a position of total market dominance at the world’s busiest airport, and completely eroding consumer choice.
“We will bid to operate all of the remedy slots that BA has been forced to give up through the process. We have made clear our commitment to operate on much of bmi’s existing network.
“When BA holds 54% of the slots at Heathrow, the impacts of the deal are exacerbated. If there had been more room to grow there, we would have more opportunity to offer network competition to BA. Instead, we will fight hard to take on the remedy slots available in order to offer short-haul competition to BA for passengers flying from Scotland and elsewhere to London and beyond.”
The European Commission’s decision on who secures the slots to operate the flights to and from Scotland is expected towards the end of the year.
Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: “There is a process to go through between now and the end of the year to ensure that we are successful in obtaining those landing rights at Heathrow, so we can start to offer service out of Scotland from next summer.”
Aberdeen Donside MSP Brian Adam said: “I warmly welcome this news, which sends out all the right signals about Aberdeen being a place to do business. There is clearly demand for the Aberdeen-Heathrow route, and increased competition can only be of benefit to both Aberdonians and to the wider regional economy.”
Photo by Steve Parsons/PA Wire