Originally Posted by
GEB74
Somewhat lost in all the hoohaa, but Virgin have actually handed 3 of the remedy slot pairs back to BA.
The 3 MAN rotations are timetabled using existing Virgin slots that were leased out to other carriers.
6 EDI and 3 ABZ means 3 slots not taken up.
Now, i know they had to use them on limited routes and they didn't get Moscow rights and Cairo is f****d right now, Riyadh is not a good place to send an aircraft with Virgin emblazoned on it etc etc, but yet another example of a half hearted, half arsed effort from Virgin.
Gifted precious slots on a plate and hand a quarter of them back to the competition
The remedy slots were for EDI, ABZ, MOW, CAI, RUH and NCE, and 7 of them were limited to EDI/ABZ. No remedy slots to MAN were available so VS would have had to use their own slots for MAN anyway.
So if VS had taken on the 3 additional slots you think they should have taken, they would have had to either start CAI/RUH/NCE or else increase frequency on EDI or ABZ beyond the existing levels (i.e. an additional aircraft). What do you suggest they
should have done with these "slots on a plate"?
If you read the actual Commitments (link in my 10 Dec post above), you'll see (section 1.1.3 on p.173) that if VS operates EDI and ABZ for a year, it's entitled to
apply for the remaining slots and use them for any European short-haul route. That seems a pretty reasonable deal to me.
If you want to have a pop at VS, fine, be my guest
, but maybe best to at least do so based on facts?