British Airways has dropped plans to launch a new airline to operate short-haul flights from London Gatwick.

It said the plan had been scuppered by pilots’ union BALPA, which had rejected BA’s proposed deal.

As a result, short-haul flights from Gatwick will remain suspended, with the exception of a few domestic services.

A BA spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that our plans for a new short-haul subsidiary at Gatwick have not received BALPA’s support.

“After many years of losing money on European flights from the airport, we were clear that coming out of the pandemic, we needed a plan to make Gatwick profitable and competitive.

“With regret, we will now suspend our short-haul operations at Gatwick, with the exception of a small number of domestic services connecting to our long-haul operation, and will pursue alternative uses for the London Gatwick short-haul slots.”

In fact, the bulk of BA’s Gatwick flights have been suspended since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The airline had told staff in a letter late last month that it was hoping to relaunch flights next summer, if it could come up with a new, ‘more competitive operating model’.