Bmi has announced it is to end services from Manchester to Chicago from next spring. The route was launched with much fanfare, along with flights to Washington DC, in 2001 but the airline’s chief executive says the services “never performed to the levels that we had hoped”.

The aircraft freed up by the closure of the route – along with other services from the city to Las Vegas, Barbados and Antigua – will be moved to serve routes to Cairo and Amman from Heathrow.

Bmi’s chief executive Nigel Turner said: “To meet the clear demand for existing and future growth from London, we will transfer our two Manchester-based Airbus A330 wide-bodied aircraft to London Heathrow. Consequently services from Manchester to Chicago will terminate on 14 January 2009 and services to Las Vegas, Barbados and Antigua will terminate after Easter 2009. We have been operating long haul services from Manchester since 2001, primarily as a result of our inability at that time to serve the USA from our main base at London Heathrow. However, long haul services from Manchester have never performed to the levels that we had hoped and we see little prospect of change or improvements in their performance."

A Manchester Airport spokeswoman said: "We are obviously disappointed with the news from bmi but as we are all aware, the aviation market is shrinking as a result of the global economic climate and Manchester Airport is not immune. We do, however, need to put this in context. The destinations affected by bmi’s decision are already served by other airlines at Manchester Airport so passengers wanting to travel to those are still able to do so with the exception of Antigua that is a once-a-week additional leg on from Barbados. Manchester Airport still serves 52 long-haul destinations and 218 destinations worldwide."

Bmi's Turner added: “A number of our mid haul routes from Heathrow, including Cairo and Amman, are performing extremely well. They have clear potential for further growth in passenger volumes, revenue and higher yielding premium cabins. Hence the clear and sensible decision to transfer our two Manchester-based A330 aircraft to Heathrow where there exists far greater potential.”