EasyJet and Virgin Express have made the major gains in the slot reallocation at Paris Orly Airport, instigated after the demise of Air Lib. Both airlines have been granted access to the airport, and between them secured 30% of the 44,500 annual slots on offer.
EasyJet has been awarded 7,300 slots, while Virgin Express has 5,840. The latter says the size of its allocation will support the operation of three aircraft at the airport and it will announce details of destinations later this month.
Another big winner was French leisure airline Aéris, another new entrant to Orly, which gained 7,600 slots. The carrier says it will use the access to create a low-fare operation for services to Perpignan, Tarbes and Toulouse using three Boeing 737-300s it intends to lease.
One-fifth of the total, or 8,900 slots, are reserved by the French state to ensure public service obligation routes to Corsica, and French Caribbean dependencies Guiana and Reunion. The remainder of the slots have been allocated to Aigle Azur (2,920), Air Alérie (730), Air France (3,440, of which 1,250 are for Brit Air), Air Littoral (1,144), Air Sénégal International (730), El Al (104), Iberia (1,460), Royal Air Maroc (208), Sky Europe (312), Tunisair (208) and Volare Airlines (3,650). Cohor, the association responsible for the reallocation, says that in total, 17,830 slots were granted to airlines that currently do not serve Orly.
Source: Flight International
