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BA to lease slots to rival airlines

Published: 10/03/2010 - Filed under: News »

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British Airways has offered to lease daily slots to its rivals in a bid to ease through regulatory approval of its partnership with Iberia and American Airlines.

All three airlines will offer up slots as they continue to seek approval for closer collaboration from the European Commission, which is in the process of evaluating the tie-up’s effect on transatlantic competition.

BA’s CEO Willie Walsh said relinquishing the slots would allow the EC to approve its venture with AA and Iberia, and in doing so “enable Oneworld to compete on a level playing field with the other global alliances”.

Walsh added that he was “pleased” the EC had agreed that the slots should be paid for by any airlines wishing to use them.

In an attempt to fulfil regulatory requirements, the following slots may be leased to airlines not belonging to the Oneworld alliance (of which all three airlines are key members):

• Two daily pairs from Heathrow or Gatwick to Boston
• One daily pair from Heathrow or Gatwick to Dallas Fort Worth
• One daily pair from Heathrow or Gatwick to Miami

Two more pairs of slots could be leased from Heathrow or Gatwick to New York, “should today's competitive market between London and New York change,” BA said.

Last month BA, AA and Iberia received tentative approval for anti-trust immunity (ATI) from the US Department of Transportation (DoT) for their joint venture.

For more information visit ba.com, aa.com, iberia.com.

Report by Andrew Gough

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COMMENTS » 

FrequentTraveller - 10/03/2010 14:36

The BT headline implies that all the slots being offered for lease come from British Airways. But that's not the impression I get from the British Airways press release.

It would be interesting to know what proposition of the slots being offered for lease come from each of the three airlines American, British Airways and Iberia.

The British Airways press release also stated "The slots can be leased from the airlines' current slot portfolio and don't have to be slots currently used on the specified routes." That could be a significant indication that the number of one world transatlantic flights out of Heathrow won't actually change. As slots could will be taken from other routes, say to Europe.

AndrewGough - 10/03/2010 16:08

Hi FrequentTraveller,

Thanks for pointing this out. You're right, BA is just one of the three airlines offering the slots. As I said further down the story, all three airlines will be offering up slots. I have changed the wording of the second paragraph to clarify this point.

I've just asked BA how many slots they'll be giving up, and likewise AA and Iberia, and the short answer is they don't know yet. A BA spokesperson just told me that it was "something yet to be discussed" once approval has been given by the EC.

VintageKrug - 10/03/2010 16:14

I would imagine BA will give up their least lucrative Domestic slots, and Iberia will sacrifice a MAD rotation. NO real loss, wither from a passenger or corporate perspective.

MAN cannot be long for this world exLHR.

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