S22 London-US slots
As per the article on ch-aviation, bids are being sought on slots for daily services to BOS, DFW & MIA from LHR or LGW beginning in S22 as a consequence of a review of Oneworld's Atlantic Joint Business Agreement (AJBA) by the CMA back in 2018.
Prospective carriers only have until 1st July 2021 to express their interest so I'm wondering which airline(s) might be in the running to bid for these slots; here are some of my thoughts:
- Delta already serves BOS, however they've operated LHR-MIA in the past so they might possibly consider operating that alongside VS's existing flight(s).
- JetBlue will almost certainly bid for BOS as this is a hub for them and it would help compliment their New York-JFK flights that are launching S21.
- United were apparently awarded daily slots for LHR-BOS back in Feb 2021, but no date has yet been announced for when these will start; I can't see them offering direct flights to DFW or MIA as neither are hubs for them.
- Virgin already serves BOS & MIA, so perhaps they might consider bidding for LHR-DFW.
And finally, as a real outsider/wildcard option, perhaps Bjørn Larsen's latest venture (Norse Atlantic Airways) might consider bidding for both BOS & MIA (from LGW) as they've expressed interest in offering low-cost, long-haul flights between Europe and the USA, including from London, using 787 Dreamliners, and he obviously has previous experience of doing so with Norwegian.
Anyone else have any other ideas/suggestions...?