Croatia Airlines sells part of its slots at Heathrow

Croatia Airlines has sold five pairs of its morning slots (right of scheduling departures and landings) at London's Heathrow Airport to the American company Delta Airlines for USD 19 million.

This has been confirmed by the Croatian national airline to Zagreb's Vecernji list, with the explanation that the transaction has not yet been completed.

The agreement on the sale of slots has been signed, but the accompanying documentation is still being prepared.

Delta will acquire the slots on April 1, 2017. Croatia Airlines has thereby kept its four afternoon slots at Heathrow (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).

The Croatian company says that the money from the sale will be put in development and investments in maintenance.

The signing of the agreement with Delta ended the drama regarding the sale of slots at Heathrow, which the management of Croatia Airlines had headed into several months before, explaining that it had been incurring losses at the Zagreb-London line for years and that the money form the sale of slots would be used to cover a portion of expenses of USD 30 million for investments in engine maintenance.

However, the entire sales process had been paused at the request of Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic and Minister of State Property Goran Maric, who had required the management of Croatia Airlines to prepare all possible scenarios by which the company might operate in the black, and the sale of slots had been postponed until all other possibilities had been examined.

The company ended up selling only a part of its Heathrow slots, albeit a more valuable part, the article says.

Croatia Airlines Hrvatska zrakoplovna luka d.d. Zagreb

Delta Airlines Atlanta USA

Heathrow Airport Limited London, UK

Croatia Airlines

Delta Airlines

Heathrow Airport

slots at Heathrow Airport

London airport

Zagreb London airline

Zagreb

London

Ministry of Maritime Affairs Transport and Infrastructure

Oleg Butkovic

Ministry of State Property

Goran Maric