BRITISH AIRWAYS is to scale down its domestic commuter operation, as predicted in ABTN 16 December, but at the same time introduce new regional services. From next April subsidiary CitiExpress will start operating from London City with the launch of three new routes to Frankfurt, Glasgow and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Using AVRO RJ100 aircraft, the new London City flights are aimed primarily at the European and domestic business markets. In addition British Airways will give its key Manchester network a major boost with the introduction of three new routes and extra capacity, to be announced in the New Year. British Airways CitiExpress has also signed a heads of terms with Eastern Airways the intention of transferring its 12-strong fleet of 29-seater Jetstream 41s and its associated engineering hangar at Glasgow to the Humberside-based airline. This will be the first part of an accelerated strategy to move to an all jet regional operation. British Airways CitiExpress plans to withdraw from 21 regional routes and will no longer fly from Cardiff and Leeds Bradford airports.
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