Heathrow slots

The deadline for applications for Heathrow slots released as part of the European Commission’s approval of the purchase by IAG of bmi has ended.  The 12 slot pairs will be made available for operations to commence in summer 2013.  The slots available can only be used on Heathrow to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Nice, Cairo, Riyadh and Moscow.

The Commitments to the European Commission provide that the Slot Release agreement shall be signed and the slot release completed within six weeks after the IATA Scheduling Conference.  The IATA conference ends on the 18 November which means that Competition RX, who is acting as trustees on behalf of the European Commission, should make the announcement before the turn of the year.

But do not expect any rush announcements and it is unlikely that the whole situation will sort itself out until the start of the airline summer season at the end of March 2013.  New routes normally need marketing and aircraft before they are undertaken.  The 'which terminal' situation at Heathrow has also to be resolved.

www.competitionrx.com www.acl-uk.org

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