Heathrow welcomes new flights

— -- Come Sunday, there's going to be a surge of new competition at London's Heathrow Airport.

After decades of fruitless talks, public posturing, backroom maneuvering and half measures that fell short of completely deregulating air service between the USA and Europe, the era of Open Skies dawns.

Every U.S. airline gains the right to fly to any destination in Europe without requesting government authorization — and every European carrier has the right to serve any U.S. city it wishes to serve.

But the 2007 Open Skies deal between the U.S. government and the European Union is mostly about opening up competition at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest, and until now, competitively restricted airports.

In addition, Air France is launching the first non-stop service between Heathrow and the USA by a carrier that is neither British nor American. Its new Heathrow-Los Angeles route will be part of its new trans-Atlantic joint venture with Delta.

Incumbents ramp up

The incumbent carriers at Heathrow are beefing up, too. American and BA are moving their Dallas/Fort Worth flights, long restricted to Gatwick Airport, to Heathrow. American also is moving its Raleigh-Durham flight to Heathrow. United is launching Denver-Heathrow service. Virgin has started a new Chicago route and added a sixth daily New York flight.

If more slots — time-specific landing and takeoff rights needed to operate at Heathrow — were available, "The rush would have been bigger," says Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president of network planning and revenue management.

Delta got its essential Heathrow slots for new service from New York and Atlanta, and wants more, he says. But the USA's No. 3 carrier will let demand catch up with 7,100 additional seats a week being added to the U.S.-Heathrow market — and for slot prices to come down — before it buys more. Recently, prime-time Heathrow slots have been selling for around $50 million, and carriers need two slots for each flight.