Loganair to expands at London Heathrow amid call to improve UK regional connectivity

Loganair has confirmed it is to expand at London Heathrow and renewed its calls to the UK Government to reform competition remedies to make slots at Heathrow permanently available for UK regional connectivity.

The move comes after Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said there was “absolutely” a case for switching the [ex-Flybe Heathrow] slots to other routes, such as Dundee.

The airline has secured access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week at Heathrow under a lease arrangement with British Airways, which takes effect in May 2023. The slots will enable Loganair to develop regional connectivity from UK domestic destinations to the UK’s premier hub, offering both point-to-point access into London itself and a broad range of new worldwide connections via Heathrow.

Details of the specific routes to be served will be announced in the coming days once all formalities have been completed with the slot agreement confirmed by Airport Coordination Limited, the designated coordinator for UK airports.

The slot arrangement between the airlines comes as Loganair has once again called on the UK Government to initiate action with the European Commission to repatriate control of competition remedies dating back to 2012 under which these Heathrow slots were previously made available to other airlines - predominantly to fly domestic routes.

Loganair’s Chief Executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “We’re delighted to be growing our operations at Heathrow.

“Having taken these important first steps ourselves to provide new connectivity to and from the UK regions under this arrangement, it’s now essential for the UK Government to initiate the process needed to reform competition remedies to provide access to Heathrow for the UK regions.”