United Sells a few Slots

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
BA buys four Heathrow take off slots from United
Monday October 13, 3:10 am ET


LONDON (AP) -- British Airways said Monday that it has bought four trans-Atlantic takeoff and landing slots at London's Heathrow airport from rival United Airlines.
The purchase of two takeoff and two landing slots expands BA's dominant position at Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest. The airline now has 41 percent of the slots at Heathrow, the highest level it has had for 11 years.

BA declined to reveal the value of the deal, won in an industry auction, but news reports said it was worth around 12 million pounds (US$19.2 million).

British Airways pointed out that it still has a lower percentage of slots at its home hub than other European national carriers. Air France and KLM operate more than 50 percent of the slots at Paris and Amsterdam respectively.

"We are always looking at ways of growing at Heathrow to improve flight schedules and make them more attractive to customers," said Richard Goodfellow, a spokesman for BA.
 
Isn't this how PanAm's demise begun- selling off their most lucrative slots/routes (to United as well if I'm not mistaken) in a desperate attempt to stay in business (even though they were killing off any hopes of long term survival)?
 
From what I read at airliners.net (so take it with a grain of salt) United hasn't used these slots in some years. So many they just decided they aren't going to need them in the foreseeable future and god knows they could use the cash.
 
Indeed, these were under/un-utilized slots that United sold to BA.

United is still, believe it or not, in a passable cash stance, so it's not like it's in danger of folding tomorrow if it doesn't sell routes today.

If United starts selling Pacific slots off, it might be time to start getting nervous, but with 130 or so fewer airplanes in the fleet, there's gonna be some fat somewhere that can be trimmed.

Paul
 
Back
Top