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Virgin-backed study calls for slot shakeup at Heathrow
Virgin Atlantic is repeating its call for a shakeup of the way take-off and landing slots are allocated at Heathrow to increase competition as part of the London airport’s expansion plans.
A study by WPI Economics, commissioned by Virgin, found that about 25% of passengers flying from Heathrow only had the option to fly with International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways.
The Ticket to Fly report estimates that IAG operated 77 monopoly routes out of Heathrow this summer.
IAG is Heathrow’s biggest airline group, operating over half of all take-off and landing slots. The next largest groups are Lufthansa with 8% and Virgin Atlantic/Delta with 7%, according to the report.
A spokeswoman for Virgin said that it is ‘essential’ that Heathrow expansion leads to ‘effective competition that delivers for the whole nation and this simply cannot be achieved by the continued dominance of one airline group’.
However, IAG told the Financial Times that Virgin has had the opportunity over the past two decades to increase its slot share at Heathrow by buying slots on the secondary market.
"The airline has failed to create more competition at the airport — it closed Little Red on domestic routes, pulled off long haul routes and rents out the slots it owns to other airlines," a spokeswoman told the newspaper.
The UK government is expected to publish its aviation strategy white paper later this year, which is expected to include proposals for the reform of the slot allocation process at UK airports.
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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