Airline authorities indicated low-cost carrier USA 3000 Airlines will halt thrice-weekly direct flights to Baltimore from Bermuda on August 27 and resume next May.

The airline said it’s stopping the route between the island and Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) during autumn and winter to carry out heavy maintenance on its aircraft.

BWI is the closest airport to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a facility used by many Bermudians.

Patients from the island will have to fly instead to Reagan National Airport which is about an hour away from the hospital on one of US Airways’ daily flights.

USA 3000 spokeswoman Christy Ortiz told reporters here that the Baltimore route was popular with American tourists and Bermudians but the airline only had a small fleet which had to be maintained.

She said, “These heavy checks happen once every five years so it should not affect next year’s operation.”

Aaron Adderley, general manager at Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport, said USA 3000 used to operate flights to Newark, New Jersey and Philadelphia from Bermuda but now only had the Baltimore route.

Meanwhile, budget British airline Zoom is hoping to get permission in the next few days to fly a shorter route across the Atlantic, cutting its journey time from London to Bermuda by almost two hours.