Blaming the fallout from the U.K.’s Brexit vote in June, all
business-class airline La Compagnie will suspend its London-New York flights
beginning Sept. 25.
The airline will instead add a second daily flight on its
Paris-New York route starting in October. La Compagnie launched the London
route in April 2015.
“The recent referendum has created an unprecedented level of
legal and economic uncertainty for airlines serving the region,” said Frantz
Yvelin, La Compagnie founder and CEO. “This unrest drove our decision to focus
on the development of our Paris-New York route. As soon as the Brexit
consequences are clarified, we will re-evaluate development opportunities in
London and other British cities.”
Yvelin added, “We would like to emphasize that this is the
suspension, not the cancellation, of the London-New York route.” He said La
Compagnie believes in the U.K.’s “unique market position.”
All customers due to travel on La Compagnie between New
York-London after Sept. 24 are eligible for a full refund. Or, they can rebook
on the Paris-New York route free of charge.
When asked in July if he thought Brexit vote might impact
London operations, Yvelin told Travel Weekly that La Compagnie’s London-New
York route directly benefited “from the single-sky agreement within the
European Union and from the open-skies agreement between the EU and the U.S.”
“We are evaluating how this regulatory framework might
change and monitoring the evolution of the currency exchange rate and the
impact on the market,” he said at the time.