Sir Richard Branson has warned airline regulators to keep a sharp eye on Lufthansa’s planned sale of BMI after BA bought six pairs of slots from the loss making carrier at Heathrow.
The president of Virgin Atlantic accused his long time rival of “salami slicing” the assets of BMI.
He said he was “concerned” BA was buying up BMI’s key assets, increasing their dominance at the airport and leaving an “uncompetitive and unattractive rump” for sale.
Virgin which, like BA, is interested in buying BMI, said it planned to write to the UK Office of Fair Trading and the EC asking that all sales of BMI assets are looked at as a whole “so competition is not diminished piecemeal ”without protection for consumers.
Sir Richard said:“With BA already holding such a dominant position at Heathrow, it cannot be beneficial to the consumer in any way if BA continues to disproportionately strengthen its position and it will also undoubtedly concern BMI's staff and pilots.