Delta Is Furious About Where Heathrow Wants to Park It

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has publicly criticized Heathrow’s terminal reshuffle, calling it “short-sighted, deeply disappointing and bad for airline consumers” in a LinkedIn post, Skift reports. Under the plan, Delta would move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 in 2028, ending its co-location with Virgin Atlantic, which stays at Terminal 3.

Finnair, Japan Airlines, LATAM and China Southern would also change terminals, while British Airways keeps Terminal 5. The changes come out of Heathrow’s Terminal Occupancy Review. Bastian says Delta will pursue all available remedies, which suggests the fight is not over.

The practical worry is connections. Virgin Atlantic CEO Corneel Koster told The Sunday Times that minimum connection times could rise from 60 to 90 minutes if the airlines are separated. Heathrow’s position is that the changes free up capacity and reduce congestion.

Heathrow has support for the plan: Sky News, as cited by Skift, reports that airlines representing about 81 percent of passengers back the final proposal. North America made up 25.9 percent of Heathrow’s September traffic, or 1.86 million passengers, so the outcome matters to a lot of transatlantic travelers. Nothing changes until 2028.

Sources: Skift