Virgin Atlantic is to axe its flights to Accra in Ghana from September after running the service for just three years.
Virgin will end the Heathrow-Accra flights from September 23 and blamed the decision on the “exceptionally high” price of fuel in Ghana.
Virgin started the service in May 2010 and was competing directly with British Airways on the route – Virgin currently runs five flights per week while BA operates daily services.
Edmond Rose, Virgin’s director of airline planning, said: “We have had to take the difficult decision to suspend our services between London and Accra.
“We were excited to enter the market and have been pleased to be part of the growth and development taking place in the country.
“However, we have been severely impacted by the price of fuel in Ghana this has resulted in us being forced to tanker fuel into Accra from the UK.”
Rose added that due to the “scarcity of slots” at Heathrow, Virgin had been unable to offer morning arrivals into the UK hub which had made the route “a less attractive option for the business traveller”.
“These are still challenging times for the airline industry and we have to deploy our aircraft to routes with the right level of demand to be financially viable,” said Rose.