American Airlines secured slots at London’s Heathrow Airport for its new Seattle service planned for the upcoming summer season. The carrier leaned on Oneworld alliance and transatlantic joint venture partner Finnair for the scarce resources.
Terms of the trade were not disclosed.
American Airlines already held 308 weekly movements at Heathrow for the Summer 2021 season; that works out to 22 daily flights. Finnair held access to 98 slots, or 7 per day.
The new flight will be one of 33 weekly frequencies on the route next summer. The additional evening departure on a oneworld and transatlantic joint venture partner allows British Airways to shift its second flight to a much earlier departure, providing onward connectivity on the morning Heathrow departure bank. The departure time from Seattle is less ideal for an overnight trip, but getting to the final destination matters more. The earlier departure will only operate 5x weekly according to filed schedules.
And, of course, these schedules remain preliminary. Coming out of the pandemic and with uncertain levels of demand and access to international travel anything could change.
Except the part where American bought the slots from Finnair. That’s a done deal.
More on American’s push into Seattle:
- Reciprocal upgrades coming to American, Alaska Airlines
- American’s long-haul revamp surrenders Los Angeles
- American Airlines, Alaska Airlines team up for West Coast international alliance
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