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Executive's wings clipped as German flight suspended

JAMES DOW

A FLAGSHIP airline route between Edinburgh and Germany, cited by the
Scottish Executive as evidence of its commitment to the business
community through the use of public money, is to be suspended.

Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, is to cancel its daily service
between Edinburgh and Cologne from late October. The company has yet
to confirm when the flights are likely to be resumed, although a date
around Easter 2004 is expected to be announced.

The route was unveiled by the Executive in March - alongside three
other services - as the first to be attracted to Scotland through its
£6.8 million air link development fund. The fund pays subsidies out of
the Executive's annual budget, as part of efforts to lure airlines
away from London.

At the time of the launch of the Germanwings route, the Executive said
its fund, which was set up last November, demonstrated its commitment
to creating better global transport links for Scottish businesses.
Announcing further new routes in July, enterprise minister Jim Wallace
said the Executive "is committed to doing all we can to help
businesses in Scotland, and these new air routes will do exactly that
.... The more direct routes we can have from Scotland, the more
opportunities there are for Scottish companies."

But many businesses will now find themselves without a direct
connection to Cologne, for up to six months. The German city is close
to Frankfurt, the financial centre of the largest economy in the
eurozone and, therefore, a natural destination for Edinburgh's
financial community.

A spokeswoman for the Executive said yesterday that it was unable to
ensure that the airlines offer their routes all- year round.

"We can't instruct the airlines what to do," she said. "We're purely
providing funds to encourage them to set up in [Scotland]."
Germanwings did not return calls to comment on the reasons behind the
withdrawal of the route.

The Executive has said it expects to announce further new routes
subsidised by its funds within months. The scheme fits in with its
"Global Connections" strategy, to provide Scottish companies with
improved access to new markets around the world.