Norwegian Air is to drop a second long-haul route from Edinburgh airport. According to local news reports, the low-cost airline is suspending flights to Providence, Rhode Island from October.
The Scotsman newspaper said the airline initially blamed lack of demand for the decision but it has since claimed the move was down to the Scottish Government backtracking on plans to halve air passenger duty.
Norwegian axed its service from Edinburgh to Connecticut last month, leaving it with just one year-round service from the Scottish capital, to Stewart in New York state.
The airline will also suspend flights its from Cork and Shannon in Ireland to Providence this winter.
Scottish ministers had hoped to halve air passenger duty this month, reducing the charge per passenger on flights to the US from £75 to around £37.50. However, they postponed the move because of the need to win EU approval for Inverness to continue to be exempt from the tax.
Norwegian had already reduced flights on the Edinburgh-Providence route from five to three times a week from last month. Its Edinburgh-Stewart flights were reduced from daily to four a week.
