By Lord Glentoran - 15th November 2011
Lord Glentoran contends that the sale of BMI could have a knock-on effect that would impact inward investment in Belfast.
British Midland International (BMI) is the airline flying from Heathrow to Belfast, and from Belfast to Heathrow. The airline is now about to be sold, with an agreement being reached between Lufthansa and BAE, although it has not yet happened because it has to go through all the usual points of surveillance.
The airline owns its own landing slots at Heathrow – the only asset of value on its balance sheet, and worth half a billion pounds. The thinking is that whichever airline buys out BMI, all they are really doing is buying £500m worth of slots at Heathrow. Therefore, we expect services between Belfast and Heathrow to be severely cut.
Why does this matter? It will have a major impact on inward investment which is urgently required in the region. This is because most senior business people coming in from overseas, such as America and Europe, come to Heathrow, as I did myself for many years. At the present moment, it is quite straightforward for them to get an ongoing flight to Belfast.
Equally, if one is part of a multinational corporation one frequently needs to fly from London to Belfast. The only sensible place to do this is from Heathrow.
It is wrong for airlines to own landing slots. My contention, and the purpose of my question, is that it ought to be the airport authorities which own them instead.
Robin Dixon is a hereditary peer. He has sat on the Conservative benches since 1995 and is an Olympic gold medallist in the bobsleigh (1964).
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