SAS receives half a billion for landing in London – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

SAS receives half a billion for landing in London – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

At many airports is it so easy for airlines to get access to times when they can take off and land. On others it is hard battle for the coveted takeoff and landing times and it applies in particular to London’s Heathrow airport.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports and has high traffic throughout opening hours. Capacity utilization is 98 percent, and in practice it is so full it can get.

It causes problems for many airlines keen to begin flying to Heathrow or want to get more slots than they already have. There is also the reason for the continued economic hard pressed SAS can now pull in $ 60 million (493 million dollars) to sell one of their takeoff and landing rights. The buyer is reported to be a major airline that takes over right from the end of March this year.

For SAS it that the company goes down 21-20 daily takeoff and landing rights at Heathrow . The total value of them are difficult to calculate because the SAS now sold an extra coveted time in the morning. Times middle of the day and late at night is cheaper.

According to SAS is the stable and high demand for travel to London among both business and leisure travelers. In order to manage capacity in the future, the company will deploy larger plan that can compensate for a loss of one takeoff and landing rights.

But for SAS does it anyway deterioration as a London flight disappears from the schedule. Especially for business travelers, it is important to have several tours to choose from.

Interest get more takeoff and landing rights at Heathrow seen in many places. The airlines British Airways and Iberia want, for example, take over the Irish Aer Lingus, largely to overcome the Irish company’s takeoff and landing rights at Heathrow. This has created strong political opposition in Ireland where many worry that the country following a takeover may get worse connections to the major London airport.

SAS flies moment from London to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stavanger . All flights go right to Heathrow but the company is now looking also at the possibility to start flying to other London Airports.

The competitor Norwegian flying for example to London Gatwick, also an airport that has large capacity problems. In the UK there are also a discussion on the need of a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick. A decision in the long-debated issue could possibly come after this spring’s parliamentary elections in Britain.