North MP Drew Hendry deplores British Airway's cuts to Inverness - London service
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North MP Drew Hendry is very concerned over British Airways' decision to cut its Inverness to London service from two to one flight a day over winter.
And he has pledged to work with others to get the airline to change its mind.
The reduced service was revealed after The Courier contacted the global airline following complaints from local people about cancelled or amended bookings.
The halved service will take effect between Inverness and Heathrow from the start of the winter season on October 29.
BA said: "We regularly review our schedule and for commercial reasons, we have made the decision to reduce our flights to Inverness to a daily one rotation service.
"We're contacting affected customers to apologise and offer them alternative options, including rebooking or a full refund."
BA flights between Inverness and Heathrow will therefore no longer allow workers from Inverness to travel to the UK capital and back in the same day.
Mr Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey said: "This decision from BA is disappointing. Inverness has already experienced increased cancellations and delays in recent weeks, so this comes at a particularly significant time.
“The tourism industry in the Highlands and other businesses at both ends of the air corridor rely on these links that the London flight path offers, and these don’t simply stop just because it’s winter.
“Our city depends on these vital connectivity links.
"I understand that international issues such as airspace restrictions over Ukraine and local issues such as Brexit have had an impact on airlines’ ability to do business, but these flights are regularly full or very busy, so why cut them?"
And the SNP MP added: “I will be working with others to urge BA to look again at this decision and see if there’s any opportunity to keep service levels at the current rate of twice a day.”
In May last year there was concern when BA British Airways announced that it is reducing the number of flights between Inverness and Heathrow.
The change saw them use bigger aircraft by merging low occupancy flights and flights to destinations with multiple services each day.
BA said then that the move comes after a challenging time for the industry and it hoped the change would provide more consistency for customers.
