Air India, now a Tata group company and a Star Alliance member, has leased 12 slots a week at London Heathrow from Scandinavian Airlines which recently moved from Star Alliance to SkyTeam. Going by the information released by slot coordinator ACL, this is based on lease agreement between Scandinavian Airlines and Air India and valid for Northern Winter Schedule. The details were uploaded by ACL on its website last night.
This will enable Air India to add 6 weekly departures, since 12 slots translates to one each for departure and arrival. Going by the slot filing, the days of operations are all days except Saturday – which is exactly how its current operations to London Gatwick from Bengaluru are planned. The timings of these slots are arrival at 1930 hours and departure at 2030 hours, whereas Air India’s flight to London Gatwick arrives at 1905 and departs at 2035 hours local time. A one hour turn for a 787-8 with 256 passengers will be a challenge. The change mentions the flight to originate from Bengaluru, indicating a shift of operations from London Gatwick to Heathrow.
The details show that the flight is listed as “T” which indicates Test. Typically a test flight indicates that the slots are approved subject to conditions being fulfilled. A scheduled service is indicated as “J” under the IATA World Slot Guidelines.
As of 1900 hours IST, Air India has shifted its Bengaluru – London flights to Heathrow from Gatwick, arriving at 1930 hours and departing Heathrow at 2105 hours local time and made the flights daily.
This will take Air India’s operations to London Heathrow to 34 flights a week, with 14 each from Mumbai and Delhi and six from Bengaluru. The airline deploys the A350 for both its departures from Delhi, while the Mumbai flights will be operated by the B777-300ER. Bengaluru is serviced by 787 Dreamliner and will be a prime candidate to have an upgraded 787 as and when the upgrades commence. Air India currently has 17 flights a week to London Heathrow from Delhi but is losing three weekly departures this winter, which were based on slots leased from Garuda Indonesia.
London Heathrow is one of the unique airports in the world where slots are hard to come by and airlines have grandfather rights with ability to sell or lease slots, which is not allowed at most other airports worldwide. The airline will now race against time to complete the paperwork, get the final approvals and shift the flights. This will involve communicating with the passengers already booked on the flights. The question of Iran Air slots at Heathrow being up for grabs, continues to be a mystery for now. .
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