Slots are Restricted
WHBM, I agree with your assessment. However there’s one major problem. Under the Commission’s decision there are restrictions on Grandfathering rights;
1.1.3. Grandfathering rights
As a general rule, the slots obtained by a prospective entrant must be operated on the city pair(s) for which they have been requested from IAG and cannot be used on another city pair unless the prospective entrant has operated them during at least six full consecutive IATA seasons ("the Utilisation Period"). The prospective entrant would be deemed to have grandfathering rights for the slots once appropriate use of the slots has been made on the city pairs at issue, for the Utilisation Period. Once the
Utilisation Period has elapsed, the prospective entrant would be entitled to use the slots obtained on the basis of the Commitments exclusively to operate services on any route connecting London with any other part of Europe (including Aberdeen and Edinburgh), or on London-Moscow, London-Cairo and London-Riyadh. (my emphasis added)
So they can only be used to serve Europe (or the 3 nominated longhaul destinations). I can’t see how they will get around this. The slots were given up to recreate competition on certain routes. I think VS are going to get caught by their own very public arguments!!