[Anonymous]

[LeTigre]

In recent weeks and most notably today we have heard the following news:

-Arik Air will relaunch its daily route between Abuja and Heathrow
-Qatar Airways will add a 5th daily flight to Heathrow from Doha
-China Southern will start service to Heathrow from Guangzhou

I thought Heathrow was full!

Where have the slots come from?

[Hippocampus]

Slots are traded between airlines. Slots can be sold (if, say, an airline withdraws from the airport or they get a good offer for them) leased (if an airline wishes to reduce capacity temporarily) or swapped between airlines.

[AMcWhirter]

There can also be instances where a Heathrow slot can be written into the ASA between two countries.

A good example is when China Eastern announced it would be flying into Heathrow from Shanghai right from the beginning. It was at a time when Heathrow was also claimed to be “full up.” That is why, in the early days of operation, China Eastern was obliged to use the then T2 as T3 had no free capacity (at that time).

[VintageKrug]

Is it the case that Mixed mode ops has increased capacity, and therefore slots have opened up?

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

In a word, no.

[ChrisBuda82]

Maybe VA are letting there slots again?

[LuganoPirate]

Depends when they plan to land / depart. Outside peak times slots are still available.

[Author]

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