British Airways has scrapped plans to relaunch short-haul flights from Gatwick Airport after suspending them during the COVID pandemic.

The carrier had planned to launch a short-haul subsidiary at the West Sussex airport but it failed to reach an agreement with pilots’ union Balpa.

A spokeswoman for the airline said it was “disappointed” it could not secure a deal with the trade union.

She said: “After many years of losing money on European flights from the airport, we were clear that coming out of the pandemic, we needed a plan to make Gatwick profitable and competitive.

“With regret, we will now suspend our short-haul operations at Gatwick, with the exception of a small number of domestic services connecting to our long-haul operation, and will pursue alternative uses for the London Gatwick short-haul slots.”

It comes after the vast majority of British Airways’s short-haul flights from the airport had been suspended since March 2020.

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