1. Aer Lingus Heathrow Slots Official Site
2. Aer Lingus Heathrow Landing Slots
3. Aer Lingus Heathrow Slots Official Site

A pair of slots at Heathrow airport sold recently for $60m (€52m), valuing Aer Lingus' 23 pairs at Europe's busiest airport at up to €1.2bn. The sale of the slot casts new light on IAG's bid for. IAG boss Willie Walsh has offered a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ on Aer Lingus’ Heathrow slots. Updated at 5.05pm IAG CEO WILLIE Walsh has offered a ‘cast-iron, legally binding’ guarantee that Aer Lingus’ flight-slots at Heathrow Airport will remain as they are for at least five years.

Aer Lingus, Shannon and the Heathrow Slots

August 10, 2007 at 10:30 am11 comments

As has been fairly well shown in the Shannon-Heathrow debacle, the 25% stake the government continues to hold in Aer Lingus is valueless to the population at large. The government either cannot, or doesn’t wish to use it to influence their strategic policy – so, bar comforting the Aer Lingus unions there, why should we keep it?

Rather, what has been shown is that the real issue is not the airline, but rather the slots. While I appreciate there are difficulties with the ownership of slots, and potential changes in Heathrow, what I would propose is that the Irish government seeks to sell its 25% stake in the company back to Aer Lingus – in return for some form of deal which would include ownership of a number of their strategic slots i.e. those at Heathrow. These slots could be continued to be used by Aer Lingus for routes from Ireland, but if they closed down a route those slots could then be rented to other airlines for services from Ireland.

What puts this issue into further light was that on the radio the other Jeffrey Donaldson suggested that the competitor with Belfast for the Aer Lingus hub was Birmingham. Whatever about giving business north, moving it truly abroad is a different matter. Certainly, something worth considering, and possible a damn sight more useful than having a minority share in the company.

Further research obviously would be needed, particularly with regard to issues relating to the true ownership of the Heathrow slots and also Brussels competition law, but it is definitely something worth looking at.

Edit: One of our own, Dan O’Sullivan proposed something similar a year ago. Pity event proven him right. Indeed, Olivia Mitchell was raising concerns about the Heathrow slots and possibly retaining them going back to 2005.

Entry filed under: Aer Lingus, Air Travel, Author - John Carroll, Brussels, Economics, FG, ireland, Irish politics, Limerick, Mid-West, Semi-State, Shannon Airport.

MANCHESTER - IAG is moving Aer Lingus transatlantic flights from Shannon to Manchester amid Irish Covid-19 non-essential travel restrictions. The airline secured 1,500 slots at Manchester airport for the summer 2021 season and is expected to base three Airbus A321LR and one A330 for flights to the United States there.
The IAG airline struggles with tight Irish travel restrictions that kept the Airbus long range jets grounded since March and mulled withdrawing longhaul ops to the UK.
According to media reports, Aer Lingus secured 1,500 Manchester slots for S21 to be used for transatlantic flights. Aer Lingus is expected to base three A321LR for services to Boston and New York, while an A330 could serve longhaul routes to Florida or destinations on the US west coast.
The airline is also set to join the Oneworld alliance shortly to coordinate schedules with IAG and alliance partners.

Aer Lingus Heathrow Slots Official Site

Aer Lingus Heathrow Landing Slots

Aer Lingus Heathrow Slots Official Site