Open Skies = Closed Options for Some

Some cities just can't catch a break. Take Detroit, for instance.

After 50 years of flying nonstop between the Motor City and London, British Airways said it would no longer do so.

Business travel on the route has dwindled and the airline is no longer turning enough of a profit. It's the latest sign of how far the American auto industry has fallen, leaving behind a bruised and battered Detroit.

Service to Detroit Metro Airport will cease in March 2008, exactly coinciding with the implementation of the recently negotiated E.U./U.S. "Open Skies Agreement." The treaty ends exclusive rights granted in the 1970s to British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, United Airlines, and American Airlines to operate trans-Atlantic services from London's Heathrow airport, allowing any European or U.S. airline to fly between any airport in the E.U. and any city in the United States.

"Open Skies" may be good for consumers, but the new pressure it puts on B.A. has likely lit a fire under the British carrier to optimize its summer 2008 route network. Detroit service was the low-hanging fruit.

With the termination of that route, other U.S. cities will see a bump in British Airways traffic—New York, Seattle, Washington, and Orlando will pick up a total of 13 additional flights per week between them.

For Michiganders with a hankering for Heathrow, there will still be nonstops on Northwest Airlines....

by Liz Gunnison