Originally Posted by
HOODED
A reduction in MAN probably wouldn't hurt too much to free up LH slots but at the end of the day you have to use each slot to maximise your profits so sadly I can't see LBA/RTM lasting unless slots from elsewhere become available.
Surely the whole purpose of the BMI acquisition was to provide a substantial increase in BA available slots, given that BMI were the second largest slot holder at Heathrow and that only a fraction of their flights have been carried forward. Apart from a few new Virgin domestic flights, I'm not quite sure where the BMI slots have gone.
I understood that the real crunch for BA now is the capacity of T5, especially airside in terms of gates. Of course, with the consistent arrivals which find the ramp staff are still in the tea room rather than in position to allow direct taxying onto stand (there isn't another carrier/airport I have ever experienced like this), and the T5 stand layout which then means they hold blocking others, a little reorganisation of the ground crew might work wonders.