Virgin Atlantic has called on regulations to prevent the “salami slicing” of BMI after British Airways acquired scarce Heathrow landing slots from the Lufthansa-owned carrier.
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is anxious that the sale of six daily take off and landing slots at the capacity-constrained London hub would lower the value of BMI for a potential buyer.
Virgin plans write to Office of Fair Trading and the European Commission asking the regulators vet the sale.
“Branson is concerned that BA could be attempting to salami slice BMI’s key assets, increasing their dominance whilst leaving just an uncompetitive and unattractive rump for sale,” Virgin said.
Virgin has been pursuing BMI for more than a decade, and the airline said it recently renewed that interest as Lufthansa looks at offloading the loss-making UK carrier.
The carrier said it did not bid for the slots sold last week because they were advertised as available only for lease, although BA says it acquired them outright.
Lufthansa is still “looking at all possibilities” for BMI, adding that its value was not affected by the slots disposal to BA.
“Whatever we have now sold does not impact network quality or the core value of BMI, because the slots are not part of the core activities of the BMI portfolio,” Lufthansa said.