BRITISHMidland has applied to the Civil Aviation Authority to launch transatlantic services from Manchester to four US cities.
Launch dates for New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington are dependent on the carrier receiving long-haul aircraft.
The airline has placed preliminary orders for either six Boeing 767-300s or Airbus A330-200s in November to allow Heathrow-US services (Travel Weekly November 11 1998).
A decision on the type will be made in the spring for delivery in March next year.
Managing director Austin Reid said no transatlantic services would start until at least summer 2000.
He said: “If London flights are not possible because of bilateral restrictions we could begin one of the Manchester routes in summer 2000.”
Reid said British Midland would have to know by June whether it can start Heathrow services to the US next year.
Unlike Heathrow-US services, there are no restrictions on UK airlines launching transatlantic services from Manchester.
British Midland is expected to operate US flights with a partner – probably United Airlines – to provide onward connections throughout the US. It already codeshares with United in the UK. Reid said talks with US carriers were ongoing, but United is a strong possibility.
The UK carrier applied to launch Heathrow flights to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington last February. It last served the US in 1983. Reid stressed British Midland would not scale down its Heathrow services to operate US services from the Northwest.