Air Canada shuts down direct flights to London for 3 months

Air Canada announced Wednesday that direct flights betweenEdmonton and London, U.K. will be discontinued for three months.

In an email, spokeswomanAngela Mah said it has always been challenging to keep the route profitable during the winter months.

As a result,flights will not operate between Jan.8 and March 28, 2014,but will resume March 29 with five weekly flights.

In May, flights will run daily to accommodate tourists.

Shortly after Air Canada made the announcement, the decision was criticized by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation.

President Brad Ferguson wrote a lengthy blog post commending the Mayor's office, Edmonton InternationalAirportand the Chamberfor coordinating theirresponse to what he called an attack on thecity of Edmonton.

He ended his post by writing "Nothing no force on earth can stop a City whose time has come. And nothing no flight or pipeline will prevent us from connecting our people and products with the world".

Meanwhile the Calgary Airport Authority issued a press release Wednesday regarding Air Canada, saying the airline is increasing capacity on direct flights between Europe and Calgary beginning next summer.