VIRGIN Atlantic said today it will seek to grab nearly 40 per cent of passengers on Scotland’s busiest air routes if it wins the right to compete with British Airways between Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Heathrow.
The airline wants the Heathrow landing “slots” that were relinquished by BMI when it was taken over by BA in April, to feed in passengers to Virgin’s long-haul flights from the hub airport.
Chief executive Steve Ridgway, visiting Edinburgh today, said its target was to carry 700,000 of the total 1.8 million annual passengers on the routes from next March.
Scottish business groups and travel agents today backed Virgin’s bid for the slots, which are due to be allocated by the European Commission by early December.
Irish airline Aer Lingus is among others expected to bid.