Virgin Atlantic and easyJet are set to lock horns for the right to fly between London and Moscow, with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) currently mulling over traffic rights on the route.
The CAA is set to reach a decision on operating rights to Moscow next month. If both airlines get the go-ahead, easyJet would operate flights to the Russian capital from Gatwick, while Virgin Atlantic is bidding for slots divested by BA at Heathrow for its Moscow route.
As a condition of its BMI takeover, BA must relinquish 14 pairs of Heathrow slots. Transaero Airlines, has already secured two slots to Moscow, and last month Virgin submitted its intention to bid for the remaining 12 pairs to the European Commission.
Virgin has also announced a code-share agreement with Transaero, meaning that Transaero’s twice-daily Heathrow flights to Moscow will carry the Virgin code from this month.
Low-cost airline easyJet has also made its bid for the share of the London to Moscow market by submitting evidence to the CAA that it will offer an alternative kind of service on the route, arguing that the Virgin Atlantic service is aimed at business travellers and offers an operation similar to that of BA.
Chief executive Carolyn McCall said this week: “We have proved that when we enter a new market we open it up, bringing competition and lower fares, enabling more people to travel.”
She claimed: “EasyJet’s low-cost model can’t be matched by BA or Virgin.”
If easyJet is successful in gaining the traffic rights, Moscow would be one of the airline’s longest routes to date.
Moscow would also be Virgin Atlantic’s first medium-haul route, while flights from Manchester to Heathrow, set to begin in March 2013, will be its first short-haul operation.
In the past ten years, traffic between London and Moscow has risen three-fold.
(Images: Aleks G, happyrelm, virtualpilot88)
