PRESS: Wizz Air And Virgin Vying For Thomas Cook Gatwick Slots

(Alliance News) - London-listed Wizz Air Holdings PLC and peer Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd are eyeing take-off and landing slots at London Gatwick airport left vacated by collapse of Thomas Cook PLC, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

According to the newspaper, Wizz Air Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi is eyeing the Gatwick airport slots as part of the company's growth plans in London. In 2017, Wizz Air acquired landing slots at London Luton Airport following the collapse of Monarch Airlines.

Varadi told FT: "We are not interested in the airline. We are not interested in other assets but we have an interest in the airport slots of Thomas Cook at Gatwick."

The newspaper also reported that Virgin Atlantic is targeting slots at the airport, particularly for evening flights.

Thomas Cook had around 15 daily slot pairs at Gatwick during the summer and roughly eight in the winter, according to the newspaper.

Slots at Gatwick, although not as lucrative as London Heathrow, could still be worth tens of millions of pounds, FT reported.

https://www.ft.com/content/1fc44b54-df8e-11e9-b112-9624ec9edc59

Shares in Wizz Air closed 0.1% lower at 3,583.00 pence each in London on Thursday.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

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