Detroit loses flights to Heathrow

DETROIT -- British Airways is canceling its non-stop flight from Detroit to London, which it has run for 51 years, blaming the struggling auto industry and lagging economy in southeast Michigan for a decline in ticket sales.

"We thought maybe by hook or by crook, we could somehow save it, but the business is just not there," Lampl said. "It's not just one thing; over a period of years and a period of events that are occurring, the market is somehow leaving and going to other places."

Michigan is in its longest stretch of job losses since the Great Depression, according to economists at the University of Michigan. Most of that is related to the Detroit-based automakers, which are struggling to regain their footing in the U.S. marketplace. From 2000 to 2006, the state lost 336,000 jobs and is predicted to lose an additional 33,000 by the end of 2008. Its July unemployment rate of 7.2% was the highest in the nation. In August, the rate inched up to 7.4%.

"It's rippled through the whole Michigan economy and caused people to spend less on other things," Johnson said. "Anyone who is selling goods to people here in Michigan is finding less demand because people in Michigan have cut back."

"It was consistently the weakest of all of our gateways and has been the weakest for several years," Lampl said of Detroit.