Virgin Atlantic in Heathrow’s Slot Auction Bid for new Domestic Flights

Virgin Atlantic is currently engaged in the bidding process for 12 of the 14 flight slots which were vacated at London’s Heathrow Airport by British Airways. The airline is intending to utilize the slots for flights to Moscow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh as the second batch of destinations from Heathrow.

Aer Lingus and Transaero are also among the slot bidders for Heathrow. The auction is to end by December this year. After buying out competitor BMI on these routes, IAG is currently the sole operator on Heathrow airport for flights to Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The parent company owning British Airways, IAG came under pressure by airline slot regulator Competition RX to direct British Airways leave 14 slots on Heathrow.

Since stepping into the competition for UK’s domestic routes against IAG this year, Virgin Atlantic has secured its route for flights to Manchester from Heathrow.  Tickets have been on sale over the past month for the Manchester bound flights, which will be starting on the 31^st of March next year. Virgin Atlantic will have major focus on the Scottish routes, with the flights operated by leased A319 airplanes.