Zoom Airlines has been forced to shelve plans to offer a link between Bermuda and Toronto after a number of UK airlines raised objections to the Canadian carrier's application for international traffic rights.

Existing services to Bermuda are operated by Zoom Airlines Ltd, a UK airline. However, its Canadian sister company, Zoom Airlines Inc, planned to introduce a new weekly Toronto to Bermuda to London service from May.

The company said that this would have reinforced the airline's links between Bermuda and London and introduce new competition to Air Canada's daily service between Bermuda and Toronto.

A Zoom spokesperson said the twice-weekly services between Bermuda and London would remain unaffected and will continue to operate on the same days as those originally planned.

Both of those weekly flights between Bermuda and London will now be operated by the UK division of Zoom, and will be linked to Zoom's new flights to Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

According to Zoom a number of UK airlines including BMI British Midland, First Choice and XL Airways unexpectedly raised objections with the UK Department of Transport to Zoom operating the Toronto to Bermuda to London routing.

They alleged that there were significant ongoing difficulties for UK airlines doing business in Canada and as a result, they felt that it would be inappropriate for the UK Government to grant the Canadian airline's application.

These objections effectively countered a concerted effort by both the Bermuda Department of Tourism and the Department of Civil Aviation to ensure that the new service could take to the skies, said the Zoom spokesperson.

The flights had not been placed on sale until regulatory approval had been obtained. No customers will thus be inconvenienced by the change.

However, Zoom Airlines Managing Director Jonathan Hinkles said the airline was nonetheless disappointed. “Since news of our plans to serve Toronto were revealed some weeks ago, we've received a huge level of support for the proposed link,” said Mr. Hinkles. “It's bad news for customers, bad news for Bermuda tourism and bad news for Zoom that old-fashioned red-tape can still be allowed to block new flights like this.

“We will continue to work to introduce services between Bermuda and Toronto in future, but it's now highly unlikely that the link will be added this year.”