Loganair (LM, Glasgow International) has leased 30 weekly slot pairs at London Heathrow, owned by British Airways but previously used by defunct flybe., as it seeks to greatly expand its presence at the UK's largest hub.
"The slots will enable Loganair to develop regional connectivity from UK domestic destinations to the UK's premier hub, offering both point-to-point access into London itself and a broad range of new worldwide connections via Heathrow," the Scottish carrier said.
According to Airport Coordination Limited-UK, Loganair secured slots for 5x daily (weekday) services 2x daily on Saturdays, and 3x daily on Sundays. While the airline said that it would announce the details of its expanded Heathrow network in the coming days, the ACL-UK filing indicates that Loganair will launch the following routes on April 30, 2023:
- 19x weekly to Londonderry City of Derry using E145s, and
- 11x weekly to Dundee using ATR42-500s.
Loganair's only current route from Heathrow is the daily service to Isle of Man operated with ATR72-600s.
The slots covered by the transaction were leased out by British Airways in 2012 under a compensatory framework related to its takeover of bmi british midland. They are earmarked for domestic connectivity and were leased to flybe. (2002) and then to its successor. They were returned to British Airways following the collapse of the regional carrier in February 2023. As the slots remain subject to the specific regulatory arrangement, they cannot be sold or permanently transferred to any other carriers. Thirteen weekly slots returned by flybe. remain available for lease.
"The slot arrangement between the airlines comes as Loganair has once again asked the UK Government to initiate action with the European Commission to repatriate control of competition remedies dating back to 2012, under which these Heathrow slots were previously made available to other airlines - predominantly to fly domestic routes," the new operator said.
Besides its single route from Heathrow, Loganair currently operates to the City of Derry from London Stansted, and to Dundee, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, and Sumburgh from London City, the ch-aviation schedules module shows.
