TAROM (RO, Bucharest Henri Coanda) has sold its daily slots at London Heathrow to Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) for an undisclosed sum and will therefore exit the UK market at the end of the current Summer 2024 season.
The transaction was announced by Heathrow slot coordinator Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) on August 14 and will take effect on October 27, 2024, allowing Qatar Airways to increase its current frequency of services between Doha Hamad International and Heathrow from up to 8x daily to up to 9x daily. It will deploy B777-300(ER)s on the additional frequency.
TAROM did not disclose the value of the transaction and did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment. In 2023, the carrier rejected a GBP22 million pound (USD25.8 million) offer from Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) in anticipation of a better deal.
The Romanian state-owned carrier included the exit from Heathrow in its EU-approved restructuring plan, which accompanies the RON474.1 million lei (USD103.1 million) state aid. The airline does not operate any other flights to the UK. Its daily Heathrow services are currently operated with A318-100s.
