[SimonS1]

@Martyn Minimum connection time at Dubai is 75 mins.

I believe sometimes gates are organised to assist connections but that is anecdotal from the TV programme.

@Marlow1971 – there are already 3×380 flights from LGW.

[HedgeFundFlyer]

The Sunday Times is reporting that the slot was purchased from Air France KLM.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

MCT for Emirates at Dubai is 75 minutes at the moment.

[FDOS_UK]

I recently did concourse B to concourse A transfer, via the train.

It was a busy Sunday evening and the flight arrived at 2145, with the onward at 2115 (90 mins.)

The security queues looked slow, so I asked for help and they fed me through the business class line, which saved some time.

As EK boards from the lounge at concourse A, I managed to have a quick plate of curry and a glass of Moet, before boarding about halfway through.

So 75 mins will work during quiet periods and from B to B at busier times, but if very busy and from B-A or B-C, you might struggle a little.

[WillieWelsh]

It occurs to me that if you include the QF code shares this will be the eighth A380 operating between LHR-DXB.

I’ve traveled from Australia to DXB several times on QF before connecting to EK to NCL and it seems as though far more people leave QF for a connection at DXB than stay on to LHR. I wonder what the QF loads are like DXB-LHR and are they picking up a lot of connecting traffic there too?

If not flying 2xA380s to LHR just to keep the kangaroo visible is a very expensive option.

[cityprofessional]

So now we know where the slots came from:
http://m.arabianbusiness.com/gulf-carriers-cement-grip-at-london-s-heathrow-airport-621634.html

AF-KL – anti-Gulf carriers at home, but quite happy to take $ms from them at LHR. Not just EK, but soon Oman goes to 3x daily (not sure if that’s correct though, given they’re currently just 1x)

[JasPat1]

Hi Alex, I heard the 2 slots were from Air France. Information from Facebook page: London Area Aviation Spotting and News. Wonder how much they paid, as Oman Air also bought 2 slots from Air France for a whopping USD75million?!!!!

[BTMEEditor]

ZKSmith – we still await a launch date but LH is holding a function to mark the opening of its Senator & Business Class lounge on March 3, so presumably by then! Will update when I hear anything official.

[AMcWhirter]

JasPat1 – Yes so I see. The previous record was set last year by SAS who raised US$60 million from the same of a slot pair to an unnamed airline.

The carrier in question has not been named and one assumes the slot (which was valid for summer 2015) was utilised.

[Charles-P]

I had a very interesting conversation in December with an accountant who talked about the crackdown one European government has undertaken on the value some airlines have placed on their slot value in their P&L reports. It seems at least one airline was taking revalued slot value as income on a year by year basis. Not quite Enron but cause for concern.

[PeterCoultas]

Sorry but really can we have some useful routes out of London (& Europe) rather than these silly midnight connections in the unstable middle east.

Clearly some individuals have business either there or in the UK (likely fewer with the oil price shocks) so a few flights are called for. But, other than that, Muscat/Oman is the only “interesting” non-business M-E destination (Yemen,Syria etc had much to recommend, at least for me as short, interesting stop-overs, but no longer & Iran is still less than tourist friendly).

Direct routes should be cheaper and more jet-lag friendly and certainly no good reason to stop in the M-E if the destination is africa/asia/pacific. None M-E airlines should get their acts together.

If LHR slots are so valuable then maybe a solution is to sell them all to M-E airlines (flying empty) and build a totally new airport operating sensible direct routes with the cash?

[FDOS_UK]

PeterCoultas – 15/02/2016 16:15 GMT

What makes you believe that London is the centre of the world?

Could it be that the UAE is, in terms of long haul air travel?

Otherwise, how does EK fill its huge fleet?

[PeterCoultas]

FDOS: I don’t, but US-Europe-Asia are (at least for now) the main drivers of world economies.
The arab M-E is just a small area that lives on its serendipitous resource exploitation that has nothing to do with its incompetent population – their airlines are merely an extension of their (hopefully) temporary (and undeserved) good fortune

[FDOS_UK]

PeterCoultas – 15/02/2016 17:35 GMT

Oh, I see.

[PeterCoultas]

Good!

[Author]

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