LOGANAIR has expanded its presence at Heathrow - and stepped up its calls for slots to be made permanently available at the hub to boost UK regional connectivity.
The Glasgow-based airline has secured access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week at Heathrow under a lease agreement with British Airways, which take effect in May.
The slots will enable Loganair to develop connections between regional airports and the UK’s biggest international hub.
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And the airline is calling on the UK Government to make the slots permanently available by opening talks with the European Commission to repatriate control of competition remedies which date back to 2012. Under those remedies, the Heathrow slots were previously open to other airlines to predominantly fly domestic routes.
Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “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.”
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The company said it will announce details of the routes it will serve from the additional Heathrow slots in the coming days. The agreement was confirmed publicly today by Airport Coordination Limited, the designated coordinator for UK airports.
Last week, Loganair announced that it would commence flights on a new route between Orkney and London City Airport next month. The airline’s Orkney to Edinburgh service will also be restored to pre-pandemic levels as part of its plans for the summer, along with services to Fair Isle and Bergen.
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