BA anger at Heathrow’s bid for more domestic flights

A spat has blown up between BA and Heathrow over the airport’s hopes to increase domestic flights once it gets a third runway. Heathrow has written to the government asking it to “ring-fence” a proportion for domestic flights of the extra take-off and landing slots created. But BA has hit out at the plan, saying that the airport does not have any standing to control destinations served by the slots. “It’s not in Heathrow’s gift to increase domestic flying from the airport,”said BA’s owner, IAG. “Airlines, not airports, decide where to fly based on routes’ profitability.” BA is highly influential at Heathrow, where it is based and has roughly half of the slots currently available. The airline called for competitive fees to encourage flights at Heathrow, adding: “The best way to encourage domestic routes is for the airport to be fairly priced. It’s hard to make routes viable if airlines are charged more at Heathrow than any other airport. If costs are low, flights will follow.” If the highly controversial plans to add the new runway go ahead, the airport is expected to see flights increase to more than 700,000 annually. Currently, only 6% of passengers travel on domestic flights from Heathrow to eight UK destinations, though this could soar if plans go ahead to add more UK services.<br/>