FLIGHTS from Leeds Bradford Airport to Heathrow by British Airways are being cut “to match demand” a spokesman for the flight operator has said.

The Telegraph & Argus has today learned that airport staff were told this afternoon of the changes, believed to start this summer, when 50 per cent of flights from Leeds Bradford to Heathrow through BA would be cut.

The anonymous caller said they were worried about potential job losses and also the sale of the airport.

In October it was announced an Australian asset management company AMP Capital had increased its interest in the UK by buying Leeds Bradford Airport.

The airport is understood to be the country’s 15th busiest, handling around four million passengers a year.

The caller said BA was claiming it was not making any money from the flights and were cutting them by half.

The caller added that no indication was being made of any job losses as a result of the cuts, or whether the cuts could affect the sale of the airport and the proposed parkway station which they feared may end up a “white elephant”.

In June, Leeds City Council’s executive board gave outline approval for a scheme to build a parkway station on the Leeds-Harrogate railway line; one of several schemes in the Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme.

The executive claimed it was “a really important initiative and one that will improve connectivity across the region, as well as help people travelling to and from the airport”.

A spokesman for Leeds Bradford Airport said the news that BA was reducing the number of weekly flights from twenty to ten in each direction was a blow to their hopes that Heathrow’s ongoing runway expansion plans would have attracted more people to Yorkshire.

He said: “We are disappointed with the decision of British Airways to reduce the frequency of its services to Leeds Bradford Airport.

“As the international gateway for Yorkshire and given our continued support for a third runway at Heathrow, this news is disappointing for the largest region in the UK. We have previously stated that we believe Heathrow expansion will enable Yorkshire to attract even more inward investment, exports and tourism by providing greater reach to key international markets via our own air link to Heathrow.”

“We hope the people of Yorkshire will still fully support the route, enabling us to prove to British Airways that the largest region in the UK can support a viable and profitable service going forward.”

Confirming the reduction in service, Sean Doyle British Airways’ director of networks said:” We are maintaining the important air link between Yorkshire and Heathrow, but have had to take the difficult decision to reduce the frequency of flights to match demand.

“We will maintain a daily service and on the busiest days of the week there will be two flights a day to and from Heathrow.

“We appreciate that the connections from Heathrow are important for business and leisure travellers and we are re-timing the morning flight so that customers can more conveniently connect to more of our long-haul flights.”