Loganair (LM, Glasgow International) was the first airline to apply for seven pairs ex-flybe. slots at London Heathrow after its collapse on January 28, Chief Executive Jonathan Hinkles told the Aviation Daily.
"We were the first to apply. Nobody else had applied before us at that point... We believe that they should continue to be reserved for domestic access to Heathrow, perhaps more widely than the original stipulations of Aberdeen Dyce and Edinburgh. But access to our national hub for regional air services is really critical to the future," he said.
The carrier's slots are currently held by its insolvency administrators although earlier reports indicated they could be treated as a part of the entire estate in talks with potential buyers and would not be sold separately from other assets and liabilities. This is because flybe. acquired the slots specifically for Scotland flights as a part of remedial proceedings related to the acquisition of bmi british midland by British Airways and not through an open market process.
Hinkles stressed, however, that Loganair has no interest in acquiring any other flybe. assets. He argued that the slots should be allocated to a new operator to preserve UK domestic connectivity rather than just awarded to the highest bidder.
Loganair currently operates a single route out of Heathrow, flying daily to Isle of Man. The Scottish regional carrier also flies to London City (from Dundee and the Isle of Man) and London Stansted (from Londonderry City of Derry). Hinkles said Loganair could move Derry route to Heathrow if it secures the slots.
Hinkles also underlined that Loganair has no plans to take over any more routes vacated by flybe. The Scottish airline resumed the Manchester International-Newquay route, previously served by flybe., but otherwise, Hinkles believes "there were any gaps in the market that flybe. the second [as opposed to flybe. (2002)] filled - and in my view, that's actually why it failed".
