Virgin Atlantic to use new Heathrow slots to battle rival BA

British carrier Virgin Atlantic will soon be joining the fray against British Airways on short-haul flights within the United Kingdom.

The airline, founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, announced today that it has been awarded slots to add short-haul flights from London's Heathrow Airport.

Virgin Atlantic says it will finalize its plans for using the new slots over the next two weeks, but adds it plans to "primarily focus on its flying between Scotland and Heathrow, running multiple daily flights from Edinburgh and Aberdeen to London Heathrow."

The slots awarded to Virgin Atlantic had previously been owned by bmi, which has since been purchased by British Airways and Iberia parent International Airlines Group (IAG).

British Airways followed by incorporating many of bmi's international routes into its own network. Others have been intergrated into BA's regional operation under the "bmi regional" brand.

However, regulators required IAG to divest some of its Heathrow landing rights to Virgin Atlantic as a condition for granting approval to the bmi acquisition.

Heathrow is at capacity, and it's rare for slots to become available to other airlines. When they do, they're highly coveted by other carriers looking to increase their presence at the London airport.

Virgin Atlantic says the slots will allow it to "mount a credible challenge to British Airways' short-haul flying" at Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic adds that "without the remedy slots, BA would continue to fly from Scotland to Heathrow uncontested," promising that its new flights would give now give fliers on those routes a "a compelling alternative."

Virgin Atlantic already had announced plans to fly within England, with a Heathrow-Manchester route set to begin in March. The Scotland flights are expected to begin in late March, Virgin Atlantic says in its statement.

The airline says it is "working with a wet lease partner to provide narrow-body Airbus A320 aircraft to operate these short haul flights."

"We have fought hard for the right to fly short haul and take a strong challenge to British Airways," Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway says in a statement. "This is the beginning of an exciting new era in Virgin Atlantic history and we now feel a responsibility to everyone that has supported us in this challenge. Passengers can look forward to a great short haul service with us but most importantly reap the benefits from the reinjection of vital competition we can provide on these routes."

The Telegraph of London adds background, writing that "the news is yet another blow to IAG, as British Airways merger with Iberia looks increasingly costly. The plan was to share operating costs between the airlines and reduce overheads, but the Spanish airline is losing so much money — about €1.7m (£1.4m) a day — it is almost wiping out the U.K. flag carrier's profit."