In March 2012, the European Commission (EC) granted regulatory clearance to the acquisition by International Airline Group (IAG) of British Midland Limited (bmi), subject to Commitments entered into by IAG to release London Heathrow (LHR) slot pairs on selected short-haul and long-haul city pairs.
In order to resolve the competition concerns raised by the EC, IAG were obliged to make available at LHR, a maximum of seven (7) daily landing and take-off slots in order to facilitate the entry or expansion of operators on the routes between London Heathrow to Aberdeen and to Edinburgh, while a maximum further (seven) 7 slot pairs were made available on London Heathrow to Nice, Cairo, Moscow, Riyadh, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
During previous seasons, a total of nine (9) slot pairs have been awarded to respective applicants. Therefore for the Winter 2018/2019 season, five (5) slots in total will be available for London Heathrow-Nice, London Heathrow-Cairo, London Heathrow-Moscow, London Heathrow-Riyadh, London Heathrow-Aberdeen and London Heathrow-Edinburgh.
Please see the link for further details on the process that must be followed by airlines wishing to apply for these slots.
Published: February 2018