British Airways to End San Diego Flights : Transportation: Airline cites slow sales in decision to end service between San Diego and London on Nov. 30.

British Airways announced Wednesday the suspension of service between San Diego and London on Nov. 30.

The move eliminates the only trans-Atlantic flights from San Diego International Airport.

The San Diego to London daily service, by way of Los Angeles, was “no longer economically viable to operate and make a reasonable (profit) return,” said Robert Falkner, British Airways’ executive vice president in North America.

Company officials attributed the move to a combination of factors, including rising operating costs and other economic factors hurting the airline industry, the seizure of a British Airways 747 in Kuwait and less than expected passenger load between San Diego and London’s Gatwick Airport.

“Obviously, we had high hopes when this service started,” said British Airways spokesman Sandy Gardiner. “It turns out there is not a big enough market in San Diego” for the 747 and DC-10 flights, “but you don’t discover that until you do business there.”

Gardiner declined to release passenger loads, which he called “reasonable,” and financial details for the San Diego service, saying British Airways never publicizes such information.

“You need very good passenger numbers for this type of service” and the San Diego-London run did not meet the company’s profit expectations, he said. “That’s the name of the game when you need a certain return for shareholders.”

Airport manager Bud McDonald said British Airways carried about 74 passengers a day during August, typically the busiest travel month, on the San Diego route. The company’s busiest day was Aug. 5, with 101 passengers on the arriving flight and 100 on the departure, McDonald said.

The British Airways planes used on the San Diego service will be used to serve more profitable routes to Great Britian, Gardiner said.

The announcement came nearly 2 1/2 years after the service began June 1, 1988, amid great fanfare by city, airport and airline officials.

British Airways officials notified Mayor Maureen O’Connor and McDonald early Wednesday.

“It is a disappointment,” said the mayor’s spokesman, Paul Downey. “British Airways has been a great corporate citizen involved in many civic activities.”

“We’re sorry to see them go,” McDonald said. “They have a reputation in the industry as being a first-class act. Anytime you lose a worldwide operation like that, it hurts.”

Although Lindbergh Field still provides indirect service to Europe via Dallas, Minneapolis and other cities, British Airways provided a special service in that it was a foreign-flagged carrier that mostly used 747s, McDonald said.

“It’s not a major loss when you consider it’s just one of 250 departures a day (from Lindbergh Field), but we’re losing that international flavor,” he added.

Gardiner said the San Diego-London service could resume if economic factors change, but added that there is no timetable for such a reconsideration.

Among the factors for the suspension were British Airways’ rising fuel costs, which have increased from 12% to 20% of the airline’s costs, Gardiner said.

Another factor is the loss of revenue from the British Airways 747 that has been sitting idle in Kuwait since Aug. 2, when Iraq invaded and annexed the Persian Gulf nation, he said. The plane has had no maintenance since then, and its cargo hold was filled with perishable goods, he added.

The San Diego-London service is not as successful as British Airways daily nonstop flights to London established at the same time in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston and Atlanta, Gardiner said.

The San Diego flight is the only indirect service to London that British Airways offers in the United States.

In 1988, the San Diego Unified Port District, which operates Lindbergh Field, spent $350,000 to remodel the airport’s international area, mostly on baggage conveyors and a U.S. Customs inspection station, to accommodate the increased passengers arriving and departing on the British Airways route.

The international area, which was built in 1967 but has served mostly domestic flights, will continue to be used for domestic service.