TAROM , the flag carrier of Romania, has transferred its London Heathrow Airport (LHR) slots to Qatar Airways for an undisclosed sum.

Daily LHR slots

As disclosed by Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) on August 14, TAROM has transferred its upcoming winter season slots at LHR to Qatar Airways .

The transaction was a sale of the daily slots, the document showed, with the Romanian carrier transferring its slots permanently.

Photo: Cristi Croitoru | Shutterstock

TAROM has been operating its daily flight from LHR to Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP) with an Airbus A318.

Furthermore, the Romanian airline’s flight had a scheduled arrival time of 14:05 local (UTC +1) and a scheduled departure time of 14:50.

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Changing the arrival and departure time

However, Qatar Airways requested to change the arrival and departure times of the landing and takeoff of its flight from LHR to Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) .

Following the transfer, which will become valid on October 27 and will cover the whole International Air Transport Association (IATA) winter season until March 29, 2025, the Qatari airline’s aircraft will arrive at LHR at 23:00 and depart at 23:05.

Photo: MBekir | Shutterstock

Qatar Airways plans to use flight codes QR109 and QR110 for its arriving and departing flights from/to LHR, respectively.

The carrier has also filed that it would operate the flights using the Boeing 777-300ER fitted with 354 seats.

Ch-aviation data showed that Qatar Airways has 28 777-300ER aircraft with 42 business class seats and 312 economy class seats. The airline’s other 777-300ERs are configured as follows:

• six first, 53 business, and 235 economy class seats
• 24 business and 388 economy class seats
• 37 business and 302 economy class seats
• 42 business and 316 economy class seats

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Eight daily flights to LHR

While the latest data would not reflect Qatar Airways’ acquisition of the slots, the aviation analytics company Cirium indicated that the carrier has planned 49 weekly flights between LHR and DOH in November.

With the addition of another seven weekly itineraries, the airline should typically operate eight daily flights on the route.

The current schedule showed that Qatar Airways has scheduled seven flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, while on Wednesdays and Saturdays, it has planned six and eight flights, respectively.

Photo: Faiz Zaki | Shutterstock

In addition to Qatar Airways, British Airways has planned 14 weekly flights from LHR to DOH, bringing the total route’s capacity to 63 weekly departures and 21,669 weekly seats in November.

Furthermore, the Qatari carrier has ten weekly flights from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and DOH.

As a result, with the addition of another daily flight between London, the UK, and Doha, Qatar, there will be a total of 80 weekly departures and 26,687 weekly seats on the route starting October 27.

While the transaction’s sum was not disclosed, the slots should have come at a hefty price. In 2016, Oman Air reportedly paid Air France $75 million for a pair of slots at LHR, which has been capacity-constrained for decades now .

The airport’s plan to add another runway has been in the works, yet with local communities’ opposition, LHR has struggled to move beyond the planning stage to build its third runway.

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