Scotland's Airline Shoots Down Rival's Route to Atlanta

SCOTLAND's daily transatlantic airline has launched an astonishing attack on its latest rival, predicting its new Edinburgh-Atlanta service will be "gone within 18 months".

Continental Airlines, which flies daily from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Newark, New Jersey, said Delta Airlines' planned service from Edinburgh to Atlanta from June was "unsustainable" and "based on unrealistic expectations".

The comments by Jeff Smisek, Continental's president, during a visit to Scotland will undermine confidence in the Atlanta route, which has been welcomed by business and tourism leaders. Mr Smisek said Continental was "in Scotland for the long-term" but Delta has "a track record of pulling out of markets not long after entering them".

He said: "We fly to New York and offer connections to other destinations throughout America. They are flying to Atlanta, but no-one wants to fly there. It won't survive."

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