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jmdavies86
10th Jun 2021, 22:20
As per the article on ch-aviation, bids are being sought on slots for daily services to BOS, DFW & MIA from LHR or LGW beginning in S22 as a consequence of a review of Oneworld's Atlantic Joint Business Agreement (AJBA) by the CMA back in 2018.

Prospective carriers only have until 1st July 2021 to express their interest so I'm wondering which airline(s) might be in the running to bid for these slots; here are some of my thoughts:

- Delta already serves BOS, however they've operated LHR-MIA in the past so they might possibly consider operating that alongside VS's existing flight(s).

- JetBlue will almost certainly bid for BOS as this is a hub for them and it would help compliment their New York-JFK flights that are launching S21.

- United were apparently awarded daily slots for LHR-BOS back in Feb 2021, but no date has yet been announced for when these will start; I can't see them offering direct flights to DFW or MIA as neither are hubs for them.

- Virgin already serves BOS & MIA, so perhaps they might consider bidding for LHR-DFW.

And finally, as a real outsider/wildcard option, perhaps Bjørn Larsen's latest venture (Norse Atlantic Airways) might consider bidding for both BOS & MIA (from LGW) as they've expressed interest in offering low-cost, long-haul flights between Europe and the USA, including from London, using 787 Dreamliners, and he obviously has previous experience of doing so with Norwegian.

Anyone else have any other ideas/suggestions...?

tigertanaka
11th Jun 2021, 16:58
Wizz must never be discounted from any new route speculation.

jmdavies86
11th Jun 2021, 20:29
Good shout tigertanaka; they might be interested in possibly offering LGW-BOS; not sure if an A321neo would be able to fly LGW-MIA direct at all...?!

CabinCrewe
12th Jun 2021, 15:39
Wizz would be Norwegian all over again if they venture into attempts at transatlantic low cost…

Skipness One Foxtrot
12th Jun 2021, 18:47
Not a hope of making it work, how many more failures before this point sinks home?

jmdavies86
13th Jun 2021, 13:40
CabinCrewe

Perhaps so; surely the operating costs of an A321neo are less than a 787 Dreamliner though, so it might fair better, no?

That said, Wizz would almost certainly have to offer some sort of premium class product as I definitely wouldn't want to be stuffed in with a 29in seat pitch for anymore than 3 hours; I'd more than likely opt to use JetBlue instead.

CabinCrewe
13th Jun 2021, 15:15
They couldn’t make it work with a 738Max either to random US low rent airports

ATNotts
13th Jun 2021, 17:10
All this speculation about Wizz operating transatlantic does appear smack of wild fantasy. I'll happily eat my proverbial hat if they ever did, certainly with their current equipment and from UK.

RMC
21st Jan 2022, 16:00
Any news about the second round bidding for LGW SS22 slot results?