Originally Posted by
anothertyke
Is it strange? Isn't the conclusion that actually there is no profitable use for those slots in their Remedy guise, the market has moved on? The question is---what is the process by which the Remedy restrictions might be reassessed and lifted? Does BA have to use them or lose them in the intervening period? Is LHR to LBA about to make a reappearance for example?
BA will have to use the slots in the intervening period to retain historic rights, but that won't be an issue. I imagine that as they only need to hit 80% utilisation, they could easily cancel a handful of slots on some current planned services and then backfill these operations by retiming the returned remedy slots. They could add new services but I wouldn't expect to see LBA added given the lack of previous success.
I don't disagree that the remedy needs to be looked at. The charging structure at LHR has effectively made operating anything smaller than a 737/320 commercially unviable, unless you can find a niche, high yielding route not currently served (unlikely). Therefore, there will always be very limited interest in these remedy slots and that's only gotten worse as the charging structure has changed.