Virgin Atlantic next year will fold its domestic U.K. Little Red service, which launched in 2013 between London Heathrow and Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester.
The Manchester route will close in March 2015, while Edinburgh and Aberdeen will operate until September 2015.
Virgin Atlantic last year launched its fledgling domestic network after it picked up slots divested by British Airways as a condition to complete its BMI acquisition.
Announcing the folding of Little Red, Virgin founder and president Richard Branson in a written statement Monday called it a "meager package of slots with a number of constraints on how to use them and we decided to lease a few planes on a short term basis to give it our best shot. The odds were stacked against us and sadly we just couldn’t attract enough corporate business on these routes."
While Virgin in a statement claimed that "bookings grew steadily for the service in the first part of 2014," much of the demand stemmed from point-to-point flyers with connecting traffic lacking. As such, "Little Red has unfortunately not been able to make a positive contribution to Virgin Atlantic’s network," according to the airline.
Virgin Atlantic recently has made significant network adjustments, as it places renewed focus on its most lucrative North Atlantic business, which it now operates largely in conjunction with joint-venture partner and minority stakeholder Delta Air Lines.
Virgin Atlantic last month announced plans to discontinue operations to Cape Town, Mumbai, Tokyo and Vancouver, but bolster North Atlantic services.
Despite a loss in the most recent quarter for which financials have been disclosed, Virgin Atlantic indicated it remains "on track" to return to profitability by year-end, with plans "to grow to record levels of sustained profitability by 2018."