BA set to use slots for more flights

BRITISH AIRWAYS will use takeoff and landing slots acquired following the collapse of Monarch to increase its London Gatwick flights to sunshine destinations this summer.

The carrier has announced its biggest summer schedule at the West Sussex airport in almost a decade, with about 1,150 weekly flights this year compared with 1,000 in 2017.

Weekly flights to Malaga will be boosted from 27 to 35, Alicante from 14 to 22 and Faro from 17 to 21.

BA’s summer flights to Tenerife will increase from six per week to 13, while Madeira will go from six to nine and Lanzarote from three to five.

Chief executive Alex Cruz said: “We are delighted to be able to further grow our presence at Gatwick by adding extra frequencies and improving our timetable.

“We are also introducing several new destinations to the Gatwick programme, including Palma (Majorca), Mahon (Menorca) and Gibraltar.

“These exciting new routes give our customers even more choice of destinations at competitively low prices.”

The collapse of Monarch, which was owned by private equity firm Greybull Capital, led to 1,858 workers being made redundant and the flights and holidays of about 860,000 people being cancelled.

Its slots at Gatwick and Luton were reportedly worth in the region of £60m, with the latter obtained by Wizz Air.

Administrators KPMG won a court battle in November to be able to sell the slots to a number of other airlines.