'No merger risk' to Heathrow flights

A merger of British Airways and smaller rival BMI poses no risk to services between Aberdeen and Heathrow, the boss of BA's parent claimed yesterday.

The nine daily flights now operated by BA and BMI from the Granite City to Europe's busiest airport faced no immediate threat, International Airlines Group (IAG) chief executive Willie Walsh told the Press and Journal.

He also said he would happily bet his "handsome" salary that there would be no BMI flights from Aberdeen to London or anywhere else a year from now if the merger did not go ahead.

IAG was already propping up loss-making BMI, having given the ailing airline a £60million loan - secured by Heathrow landing slots - to keep it in business, he added.

BMI's mainline operation, including the Aberdeen-Heathrow route, is being acquired by IAG from German giant Lufthansa for £172.5million. The deal became binding in December.

The Office of Fair Trading has faced calls to look into whether the sale, which would give IAG more than half of the landing slots at Heathrow, breaches competition rules and there are also fears the move could mean higher fares.

Last week, Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson urged European competition authorities to intervene and said his airline was ready to provide real competition if the IAG deal were blocked.

During a visit to Glasgow yesterday, Mr Walsh said there was ample opportunity for competition and also hit out at Virgin, saying it owned more slots at Heathrow than it used and should "put its money where its mouth is".

He added: "There is nothing to stop competitors entering the market. Virgin could do it today."

Mr Walsh said IAG was rescuing services which would disappear without the merger.

BMI's continuing losses - about £15million in 2010 and a similar figure in the first nine months of last year - meant it had no future on its own, he added.

Mr Walsh said IAG needed to free up landing slots at Heathrow for long-haul flights to compete internationally but this would not necessarily affect domestic services.

The group would look for opportunities across the BA and BMI networks, not just at domestic services to transfer slots currently allotted to short-haul routes to long-haul ones, he added.

"We are absolutely committed to services from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow," he said, adding: "People in Scotland have nothing to fear.

"They are not going to wake up one morning to find their flights to Heathrow have stopped."