UK airline British European will axe one of its Northern Ireland routes to London and review all overheads, including staff, as part of a cost reduction strategy. Mr Jim French, managing director of British European, said the decision to end the Stansted service was part of its continuing review of its network which aims to "cut costs and tailor capacity to meet demand". "We lost money last year and we were heading for significant losses this year again so that is the reason why we are currently reviewing the business."

He said the company planned to reduce its overall capacity by 5-10 per cent over the next 16 months in a bid to become more efficient. Mr French said the company's position in the market place had been challenged by the combination of more competition in the form of low cost operators and by fuel increases last year. "We also bought too many planes too quickly," he added. British European has said it has no desire to enter the low-cost operator market.