just ridiculous

I find this hard to believe.... They could jsut sell really cheap tickets and get a few more people. Do American carriers have to pay for landing slots at major airports?

Airline flies empty to keep Heathrow slot
Posted on : 2007-03-12 | Author : World News Editor
News Category : World

LONDON, March 12 (UPI) An airline is flying an empty plane from England to Wales six days a week to preserve a landing slot at London's Heathrow airport.

British Mediterranean Airways has been operating the ghost flight since October because of a rule that an airline must use 80 percent of its Heathrow landing slots or face reallocation, The Times of London reported.

British Mediterranean resorted to flying an empty 124-seat Airbus after civil unrest in Uzbekistan forced the airline to scrap its flights to Tashkent.

British Mediterranean Chief Executive Officer David Richardson said the airlines looked at alternatives before deciding to fly the Cardiff route empty.

Our route network makes it difficult to put on additional flights to many destinations, due to bilateral agreements with the countries, Richardson told The Times. In other cases there isn't a big enough market, we would end up carrying the same number of people on more flights.Slots at Heathrow have been sold for as much as $20 million.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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