TAP Portugal will suspend its Lisbon and Porto routes at London City airport at the end of October, citing Brexit for “uncertainties” in customer demand.
Its Lisbon route, launched in October 2017, and Porto route, launched in March 2018, will cease operating from 27 October, the airline confirmed on Wednesday (14 August).
Beside the effect of Brexit, the Portuguese carrier said the routes hadn’t performed as well as it had expected.
“Due to uncertainties in customer demand associated with Brexit and the lower than expected results in that market, TAP decided to suspend the operation in London City airport,” said the airline in a statement.
It said it would make up for some of the lost capacity by allocating larger aircraft on its Lisbon and Porto routes operating from Heathrow and Gatwick during peak periods.
TAP flies twice a day between London City and Lisbon on weekdays, and once a day at weekends. Its Porto service operates daily, excluding Saturdays.
London City said it was disappointed by TAP’s decision, which it has attributed to overcapacity. “Route churn is an industry reality, but we hope we may see TAP back at London City in the future, as their services were valued by many,” said a City spokesperson.
“In the meantime, we’ll focus on re-distributing these sought-after slots with new and existing airlines.”