Virgin Atlantic at Port Stanley Airport, and the time it would take to improve it, would render a route to the Falklands commercially unviable, thus the idea of such a service was dropped. In its place, Hellary and Fields commenced efforts to secure a licence to operate a route Gatwick Airport, London and John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City. During May 1983, a three-day inquiry was conducted, which chose to reject the application following objections from British Airways, British Caledonian and BAA. Hellary and Fields then applied for a licence between Gatwick and Newark, New Jersey, using a 380-seat McDonnell
Newark Liberty International Airport City, and south of Downtown Newark. It is one of three major airports serving the New York Metropolitan Area, the others being John F. Kennedy and La Guardia in Queens, New York, both of which are also operated by the Port Authority. It also attracts a significant passenger base from the Philadelphia metropolitan area. In 2017, EWR was the fifteenth busiest airport in the United States, and the forty-third busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, serving 43,393,499 passengers. Newark serves 50 carriers and is the third-largest hub (after Chicago–O'Hare and Houston–Intercontinental) for United Airlines, which is the airport's