UK regional airline Loganair is to expand at London Heathrow after securing access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week at the airport.
The slots have been secured as part of a lease arrangement with British Airways, which takes effect in May 2023.
The agreement will enable Loganair to develop regional connectivity from UK domestic destinations, offering both point-to-point access into London itself and a broad range of new worldwide connections.
Details of the specific routes will be announced in the coming days once formalities have been completed.
Announcing the move, Loganair renewed its calls on the UK Government to reform competition remedies to make slots at Heathrow permanently available for UK regional connectivity.
“Having taken these important first steps ourselves to provide new connectivity to and from the UK regions under this arrangement, it’s now essential for the UK Government to initiate the process needed to reform competition remedies to provide access to Heathrow for the UK regions,” said Jonathan Hinkles, Loganair’s Chief Executive.
Loganair’s campaign to encourage the reform of Heathrow competition remedy slots began last month and quickly gathered support from figures including outgoing Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye, Willie Walsh, the Director General of IATA and Dr Liz Cameron CBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.
Changes to Heathrow’s tariffs for regional aircraft operating on UK domestic routes took effect from January 1 2023. Loganair said the new tariffs are critical to the viability of its plans to provide regional connectivity at Heathrow.
