Go, the expanding low cost airline once owned by British Airways, said yesterday that it has applied for slots at Gatwick airport to supplement its business from Stansted.
Barbara Cassani, its chief executive, said that business was improving in spite of the US terrorist attacks. It needed to meet a growing demand south of London for cheap business and leisure fares to the UK and continental Europe.
Ms Cassani's remarks contrasted with British Airways' statement that it will not pay an interim dividend to shareholders next month and, unless the situation improved this year, there would be no final dividend. BA also announced a further 200 job cuts with the merger of its two UK regional subsidiaries, British Airways Regional and CitiExpress.
Ms Cassani said that Stansted served the north and east of London very well, but that "the potential provided by Gatwick is something we cannot ignore." She said that Go was looking to double its services on existing routes but would keep the same fares. She said that the opportunity had arisen because some scheduled carriers were withdrawing from Gatwick, including BA.
Airport charges are nothing like those at Heathrow, where easyJet has said that it wants to apply for slots which could become available after BA withdraws its service to Belfast at the end of the month.
Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, yesterday appealed for the right to take up spare departure slots at Heathrow and Gatwick. He said that the budget airlines had asked the European Commission to relax its "use it or lose it" rule under which airlines which fail to fill a slot for 80% of the time, relinquish rights to it.
Karl-Heinz Neumeister, secretary general of the Association of European Airlines, which represents large carriers like BA, said that they were suffering and the EU should look at the rule again.
David Evans, BA's general manager for UK business, said that linking its two regional subsidiaries, would create the second largest regional operation in Europe. It was imperative to protect UK operations and make its routes more viable.
Meanwhile the Virgin group, said that it stood ready to help Sabena, the Belgian airline, out of its financial crisis; some 40%of Virgin Express's revenue derives from a code-sharing deal with Sabena.
