BRITISH Airways yesterday announced its intention to discontinue the two weekly flights from Gatwick, London into the tourist resort city of Montego Bay, St James, next summer.

In a statement the airline, which only returned to the Sangster International Airport in 2009 after seven years, said the decision to withdraw from the Montego Bay was made against the route's commercial performance.

"A decision to withdraw a route is never an easy one to take," said Diane Corrie, the airline's commercial manager for the Caribbean.

"Sadly, we can no longer continue to operate the Montego Bay service but we will continue to have a strong presence in the Caribbean market with the increase of our Kingston and Antigua services," she added.

British Airways also announced that the airline will increase its Kingston-London services, from two services to three times weekly.

Customers booked on affected flights, according to the airline, will be offered a full refund, and are advised to contact their travel agent or the airline's website.

In June, Virgin Atlantic also announced plans to exit the London to Kingston route next April, months ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Virgin will, however, continue flying from London to Montego Bay.

Following the announcement of British Airway's decision to pull out of the tourism capital, Virgin Atlantic director of commercial and revenue planning, Edmond Rose, yesterday reiterated that airline's strong commitment to its Caribbean network, and announced that from next summer it will be bringing more high-end leisure travellers to the region.

The airline, a major driver of tourism revenue in the Caribbean, is said to transport more than 750,000 passengers between the UK and its eight destinations in the region last year, including Barbados, Cuba and Jamaica.

Speaking at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation State of the Industry conference in St Martin, Rose announced that Virgin Atlantic's fleet of leisure aircraft between London and the Caribbean is to be completely refurbished in summer 2012. The refit will include a new onboard layout with more premium economy seats in a move to bring more higher-end leisure customers to the market.

"Adding 14 per cent more premium economy seats to our 747s serving the Caribbean routes will bring direct economic benefits for Caribbean tourism and will also be good news for business communities which depend upon reliable premium quality services to the UK and beyond," Rose said.

The refurbishment, Virgin said, is the first major step in a £100-million product investment announced by the airline following positive financial results. The Caribbean market was a key driver towards the airline's £18- million profit last year, with load factors to the region of well over 80 per cent and Barbados outperforming all other islands with a 10 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue.

"The Caribbean is incredibly important to Virgin Atlantic with eight destinations in our network contributing over 10 per cent of our passenger revenue," Rose said.

The airline also announced an increase in rotations to the region, with extra flights to Barbados, Cuba, Tobago and Grenada.