Simon Calder’s Travels
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TTGcolumnist Simon Calder on what agents need to know about how airlines get spaces to fly from UK airports
hat are the most valuable strips of concrete in the world? The two runways at Heathrow, known as 09L and 09R or 27L
and 27R, depending on which way the wind is blowing. During operating hours they are 98% full as airlines squeeze the most out of one of their most valuable assets: landing and take-off slots at the world’s busiest international airport.
Slots? Aren’t they what they call one-armed bandits in Vegas? Correct, but the reason Brits can get to casinos in the middle of the Mojave Desert is because they’re flying on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow and Gatwick respectively – the most “slot-constrained” airports in the world. Permission to land and take off is a jealously guarded resource. Gatwick has some space to grow, with available slots mostly at off-peak times, which is why the arrival of Air Berlin is good news – the new links from Hanover
and Cologne will use spare capacity and avoid the early-morning squeeze when transatlantic arrivals vie with short-haul departures for a space on the world’s busiest single runway. Several other UK airports are effectively “full” at peak times, while others – indeed, the vast majority – can boast that they are unconstrained and welcome any airline to come and go as they see fit.
How do you acquire a slot? Ideally, from the airline’s perspective, through heredity. Before Heathrow became effectively full, British Airways, BMI and many foreign airlines acquired so-called “grandfather rights”, allowing them to land and take off at specific times. BA currently holds around 40% of the Heathrow slots, while BMI has one in nine. In theory the way that new or expanding airlines acquire slots is when existing carriers say: “we don’t need that pair of slots any more” and hand them back to the pot. In that case,
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■ Catch up with Simon’s full series of articles for TTG ■ Read Simon’s growing glossary of travel industry terms
■ Contact Simon and give him your own view 20 19.11.2010 The familiar sight of a queue of aircraft on the taxiway of Heathrow’s northern runway as they wait to take off
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