It bears repeating: there are NO SLOTS TO GIVE AWAY at LHR, period. Even if the UK Govt. decided to increase LHR delays by artificially creating more slots, the US carriers would likely take a back seat to airlines/governments that have been promised LHR slots (by treaty) for over a decade (Air India is one airline that comes to mind).WorldTraveler said:While you're in school, take the class that tells you that in the free enterprise system, any scarce commodity can be had for the right price. The Europeans, far more than the Americans, are pushing for a rework of US-EU aviation agreements. The US has made it perfectly clear that there will be no deal if LON is not involved. Quite frankly, I think CO, DL, NW, and US would be happy if they have unlimited rights to LGW but that isn't available either. There are all kinds of leisure services flown from LHR and LGW which could be transferred to STN if the British are interested in a deal with the US. And, of course we know that slots can indeed be created as evidenced by US government actions over the past several years at DCA and LGA. Either way, the point is how the competition will come but that it will come and United needs to prepare itself for it; restating my original point, UA has the highest percentage of limited access routes of any US airline so is most subject to increased competition.
I have no interest in seeing UA or ahy other institution fail; however, I do expect UA to do everything it needs to survive on its own - which is exactly the message the ATSB sent today. I also expect United and its employees to be able to honestly deal with the challenges facing it rather than simply grin and say that everything will be ok - a strategy that has obviously failed miserably for about 4 years now.
Best wishes on your new endeavors.