Delta Air Lines is seeking slots for London Heathrow being relinquished by Oneworld carriers as part of their transatlantic anti-trust approval.
As part of granting approval for Oneworld partners American, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Royal Jordanian to achieve anti-trust, regulators required the carriers give up four Heathrow slots. Two must be used for flights to Boston while the remaining two slots are available for flights from Heathrow to any other market in the USA.
Delta has sought slots for twice-daily year-round flights to Boston and a single daily year-round flight to Miami.
Delta believes the Oneworld and Star Alliances have a greater share of Heathrow slots than the SkyTeam grouping, which is anchored by Air France-KLM and Delta. Oneworld carriers hold 47% of Heathrow slots, says Delta, followed by Star, which holds 25% of Heathrow's slots. SkyTeam, however, only has a 5% of that pool, argues Delta.
Delta explains flights from Boston would complement service from Paris and Rome operated by Air France and Alitalia, who is joining the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture.
The proposed Miami-Heathrow flights would round out SkyTeam's service to Miami from Paris and Rome, says Delta.
If Delta succeeds in gaining necessary approvals for the proposed service, flights would begin on 27 March 2011.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
