BA boss says will not give up Heathrow slots

British Airways chief executive officer Willie Walsh has vowed the airline will not surrender runway slots at Heathrow in order to land its proposed alliance with American Airlines.

According to the Sunday Times Mr Walsh said that BA would not give up any of the prized slots, which have changed hands for £20 million a pair, just as competition regulators are tipped to demand that the two carriers forego as many as 10 slot pairs a day.

"There should be no slot remedy, I don't see how it could be justified." he said.

Both airlines along with Spain's Iberia said on Thursday they had agreed to a transatlantic tie-up and would file for antitrust immunity from the US Transportation Department and notify EU regulators.

BA, which is also in all-share merger talks with Iberia, holds over 40 per cent of Heathrow's slots.

British Airways plc is engaged in the operation of international and domestic scheduled air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail, and the provision of ancillary services.

The Company's principal place of business is Heathrow. It operates a worldwide air cargo business with its scheduled passenger services.

The Company operates international scheduled airline route networks, comprising some 300 destinations as at March 31, this year.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, this year, British Airways carried more than 33 million passengers and 805,000 tons of cargo to destinations in Europe, the Americas and worldwide.