Originally Posted by
1033
I personally did not think that an airline actually owned slots at LHR. Yes they have rights over the slots, if they have been appointed them but actually they merely just safekeep them. For example, if an airline doesn't use their allocated slots effectively and cancel flights regularly, they can be withdrawn by the airport authority and returned to the slot pool.
You are correct, there is no ownership. However, there are of course ways around this. A standard one is that it is allowed for airlines to swap around their slots with each other to suit their schedules, and this is done quite a lot and causes no comment. There are also a few slots which are still available at Heathrow for application, at unpopular/almost unusable times, such as after 2200. So how you do it is that BMI may have a good slot pair, in 0800, out 1100. New Airways then applies for, and gets, a nonsense set of arrival 2220, departure 2210. Then the two carriers "swap" these slots. BMI then hands the slots back as unwanted, and New Airways is using those morning slots. Meanwhile there is slight transfer of funds between the two, maybe BMI sells an old tug to New Airways for £10m. Because, of course, "slots cannot be sold".
Other ways as well.