The European Union (EU) in an unprecedented move has placed more sanctions on Iran including its airlines. Iran Air, Mahan and Saha were the three airlines added to the sanctions. As geopolitics takes its own course, the aviation activity gears up differently.
Publicly available data sourced from slot coordinator ACL, airline booking engines and airport websites shows that Iran Air has a fair bit of presence across Europe with its non-daily services. The airline has operations to Paris CDG, Cologne, Rome Fiumicino, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Milan, Vienna and London Heathrow. All of these airports are classified as Level 3 airports by IATA, indicating that they are congested and have slot limitations. As per IATA (International Air Travel Association) an airport is classified as Level 3 when the demand significantly exceeds the airport capability. It becomes necessary for all airlines and other aircraft operators to have a slot allocated by an independent slot coordinator to arrive or depart at the airport.
Golden opportunity?
In cases where there are sanctions, like was the case with Aeroflot – the airline is not able to sell the slots. The same will repeat for Iran Air. This means that the airport gets the slots back to its pool and based on rules is free to allocate it to other carriers. IATA’s World Slot Guidelines is the standard guideline document, though it may never be followed in full letter and spirit.
Iran Air holds thrice weekly slots at London Heathrow, which will be the most priced slots at the moment. Which carrier will bag it? Air India is currently operating 17 weekly flights to London Heathrow from Delhi. This will drop to 14 at the beginning of the Winter schedule on Oct 27, 2024. This is because the airline had leased slots from Garuda Indonesia in the past which continued season after season. The current slot allocation reports available online show that the airline has received slots for only two flights a day to London Heathrow from Delhi. Both of these are operated by the A350, six of which are part of the airline’s fleet.
There never are going to be enough slots at Heathrow for anyone. While Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are mounting flights to India under the new bilaterals, details of which aren’t public, they are doing so by adjusting their other long haul flights indicating how important the Indian market is. Air India on the other hand is dependent on limited slots at Heathrow and has maximised all options including shifting some flights to London Gatwick to utilise Heathrow slots for prime Delhi and Mumbai departures. The India to London Heathrow route is a classic case of three global alliances having a good presence and tough fight, with Air India (Star Alliance), British Airways (One World) and Virgin Atlantic (Skyteam).
Vistara was lucky to have got access to London Heathrow in the middle of COVID and managed to continue its operations post that. Will Air India be lucky with these three slots? I am sure the airline and the government are already at it. These would be temporary, no doubt, but helps get a foot in the door – the best tactic and strategy to get a slot at any congested airport worldwide.
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