LONDON- Virgin Atlantic (VS) has carried out three slot transfers with Middle East carriers for London Heathrow Airport landing slots this week.
According to the Airport Slot Co-ordinator, ACL, Virgin has made a slot swap with Emirates (EK), EL AL Israel Airlines (LY), and Saudia (SV).
Virgin Atlantic London Slots
The slot swap arrangements involve three major Middle Eastern carriers:
- Emirates Airlines Exchange
- Virgin Atlantic and Emirates have agreed to swap evening slot pairs
- Emirates used to deploy a 360-seater 777 for flight EK41/42 and here are the timing adjustments:
- Arrival shifts to 2300 from 1405
- Departure moves to 2305 from 1745
- The swap affects operations between Dubai (DXB) and London Heathrow
- Virgin will utilize these slots to operate New York (JFK) Flight with Airbus A330-300 having 264 seats.
- EL AL Israel Airlines Agreement
- The arrangement involves Virgin’s flight VS6008/6009 and EL AL’s flight LY209/210
- New timings establish:
- Evening arrivals at 2300/1455 respectively
- Departures at 2305/1815
- Virgin Atlantic will also use these slots to operate JFK flights.
- Saudia Operations Adjustment
- Virgin Atlantic and Saudia have coordinated times for:
- SV106/107 operations to/from Jeddah (JED)
- VS6004/6005 services to/from Tel Aviv (TLV)
- Timing adjustments optimize evening departure and arrival slots
- Virgin will use these slots to operate Tel Aviv, Israel Flights.
All these slot transfers are for the Summer 2025 season. The agreement, marked as lease return arrangements, is set to commence on March 31, 2025, and will remain in effect through October 23, 2025.
Delays Launch of New Flights
In a separate development, Virgin Atlantic (VS) customers are facing cancellations on flights to Tel Aviv (TLV) and Accra (ACC) due to ongoing maintenance delays on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines used on Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
These issues have impacted the planned summer 2025 launch of flights to Accra, Ghana, and delayed the return of services to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Virgin’s fleet includes 17 Dreamliners, with one currently grounded and a second potentially facing grounding next year. Other airlines, including Air New Zealand (NZ) and British Airways (BA), are also experiencing similar disruptions due to the Trent 1000 engine issues.
Feature Image by Clément Alloing | Flickr
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