In recent publicity, there have been talks of British Airways (BA) potentially losing its slots at London Heathrow airport.

This week, BA has ruled out certain criticisms and stated categorically will not operate empty flights just to maintain its valuable Heathrow slots.  bmi’s deputy chief executive, Tim Bye, appeared to openly accuse BA of operating ‘ghost flights’ just to maintain the slots, which understandably aggravated certain environmental groups.  The bmi spokesperson immediately retracted the statement saying that the comments had been misinterpreted.

Richard Tams of BA stated that BA would not fly empty planes even if it meant losing their slots.  He said:

“The cuts will be spread over Heathrow and Gatwick and they will be on multiple frequencies only. They will be sensible cuts and we are not going to compromise business travellers’ schedules. We can’t take capacity out without cutting flights, but we will not fly empty planes.”

Only last week, BA’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, announced winter cut backs on BA’s winter routes that had been lsoing money.