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Airport Coordination Ltd, the body responsible for allocating slots at London airports, has published its first reports for the coming winter season.
Before going any further, these come with a number of health warnings:
- They are not final, but do indicate which airlines want slots at Heathrow and for which routes.
- Airlines may be allocated slots, but do not take them up. This can be for commercial reasons, or the slot timings are not suitable.
- Airlines will make a number of route changes that do not feature in these reports.
All that said, here are some headlines:
Virgin Atlantic Gains Slots For Tampa
Virgin Atlantic has secured slots for a new route to Tampa, Florida.
Virgin’s transatlantic joint business partner Delta has previously flown between Amsterdam and Tampa, so there is a logic to this.
If the route went ahead it would operate up to daily.
Other Airline Changes
Flybe has secured slots for the winter season. Flights to Amsterdam, Belfast and Leeds Bradford are not currently on sale for the winter. There were doubts as to whether Flybe would have slots for the winter, and there were references to legal issues surrounding some slots at Heathrow, but it has.
WestJet has also secured slots for the winter season. Again, WestJet’s recently launched route from Heathrow to Calgary is not currently on sale for the winter.
JetBlue has secured permanent slots at Heathrow for its service to New York JFK., as the airline confirmed earlier this week.
As far as British Airways is concerned, its route to Bangkok is not expected to operate. The route has already been taken off sale, with flights not yet cancelled. Providenciales may also move back from Gatwick to Heathrow.
Aeroflot has been stripped of its Heathrow slots in line with sanctions by the UK government.
As happens every season a large number of airlines request slots and get nothing. These include Aurigny, SpiceJet and Widerøe.
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