Flybe issues statement on Little Red speculation
Flybe has refused to comment on weekend reports that it is in line to pick up Heathrow slots previously used by Virgin Atlantic’s regional airline Little Red.
In a statement today, Flybe said: "Flybe cannot comment on the press speculation this weekend regarding any new slot allocation being considered at London Heathrow."
But it added: "Such decisions lie wholly within the remit of the slot allocator, however any commercial operation would require attractive charges to be offered by London Heathrow."
According to the Sunday Times, the airline is in the ‘final stages’ of plans to challenge British Airways’ monopoly on regional flying at the London airport.
Following BA’s take-over of Bmi in 2012, competition watchdogs said BA must make Little Red slots available to competitors.
Little Red was set up by Virgin to bring regional traffic into Heathrow but closed in 2014 after just two years because the routes were not profitable.
The Sunday Times said Flybe would use small, more economically-viable turboprop aircraft on the routes.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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