British Airways Acquires bmi Heathrow Slots

British Airways (BA) has agreed to acquire six daily slot pairs at London Heathrow to expand its activities at its main operational hub this winter. The slots have been acquired from rival bmi British Midland International, the loss-making operator now controlled by German national carrier Lufthansa. In a brief statement the airline’s parent company International Airlines group (IAG) confirmed it had approved the acquisition. “The slots will be used by British Airways from late October 2011 with the airline looking to expand both its long-haul and short-haul network at the airport.”

BA is believed to be one of a number of companies that are currently interested in acquiring the UK airline. Lufthansa recently hired Morgan Stanley as adviser for a potential sale of the company which made a £106 million loss during the first six months of the year. Despite its poor financial performance the airline is of significant value given its ownership of over ten per cent of the slots at London Heathrow.

bmi is currently the second largest carrier at London Heathrow and as the above table shows, during November, the first month of the new 2011/2012 winter schedule, it will account for 8.1 per cent of the weekly flights and 4.8 per cent of the available capacity. British Airways, as you would expect, dominates the market with a 43.0 per cent share of flights and 43.4 per cent of the total capacity. Lufthansa is the largest foreign carrier at London Heathrow with 5.4 per cent and 4.0 per cent of the flights and capacity, respectively, while Virgin Atlantic Airways, the sixth largest carrier by flights is the third largest by capacity through the operation of only widebodied equipment.