Everyone knows that London Heathrow is a highly expensive and heavily slot-constrained airport. These factors keep out many airlines that wish to fly there, including to attain higher yields and to benefit from the facility’s brand awareness. Many carriers have increasingly opted for London Gatwick instead.

Of course, slots are available at Heathrow. This may be from the usual pool (albeit in very limited numbers or at inconsistent times) or from leasing or acquiring them from other carriers. In October 2025, Air Peace, IndiGo, and Riyadh Air commenced Heathrow flights, although Riyadh Air’s offering is still not open to the public. Now it’ll be the turn of three long-haul operators in 2026. Six additional long-haul airlines in two years is highly notable.

Pakistan International Returns On March 29

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PIA has a long history of serving the UK’s busiest airport and, indeed, various other UK airports. Until last summer, Pakistani airlines were banned from flying to the UK. While the carrier returned to Manchester last year, it’s nearly the turn of Heathrow. It has taken back slots that were leased to Turkish Airlines (which has just started passenger flights to Stansted).

Pakistan’s flag carrier will touch down in Heathrow on March 29, which is when northern carriers switch to summer schedules based on IATA slot seasons. It’ll operate from Islamabad (three weekly 777-200ER) and Lahore (starting March 30; weekly 777-200ER). Cirium Diio data shows that it’ll be the only airline operating nonstop between Heathrow and Pakistan. However, British Airways operates Gatwick-Islamabad.

Given the war in Iran, PIA will benefit from significantly fewer seats being available via Gulf hubs. According to booking data, three in four London-Pakistan passengers flew via the Middle East last year. PIA will also have to detour significantly. As Flightradar24 shows, it flies through Russian airspace to/from Manchester, which will be the same for its returning Heathrow flights too.

Alaska Airlines Will Arrive On May 22

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Then there’s Alaska Airlines, which has big long-haul ambitions. On May 21, it’ll take off from its Seattle hub for Heathrow, arriving mid-afternoon on May 22. By then, it’ll be the oneworld member’s second European route, after Seattle-Rome (which begins on April 28). Others start later.

Using slots leased from American Airlines, Alaska will serve Heathrow daily. It’ll become the fourth airline operating nonstop between Seattle and the UK’s busiest airport, joining British Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic. They’ll have up to five daily flights.

With around 270,000 local passengers last year, it’s a reasonably sized point-to-point market. While a proportion of Alaska’s passengers will connect to other flights in the US and Canada, how much capacity is too much for the market? After all, Delta only filled 73.5% of seats on the route last year.

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Is An Early Christmas Present Coming?

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Finally, but most notably, there’s BeOnd. Despite being an all-premium operator, this tiny carrier gets comparatively little attention. Its profile will increase if, or when, it arrives at Heathrow as planned on December 16.

It has scheduled three weekly flights from Malé, the capital of the Maldives, using a 68-seat Airbus A321ceo. Flights will stop to refuel in Dubai Al Maktoum. Given the current situation in the Gulf, this is perhaps a dubious idea. Then again, the launch is months away, and it is used to doing it on its existing European routes.

B4220 is due to arrive in the UK at 6:30 am, which is, of course, a massively busy time of the day at Heathrow. It is currently unclear how it has obtained peak time slots, with the airline contacted for comment. Flights are due to depart at 12:25 pm, arriving home at 6:30 am the following day. If the first flight does take off, it’ll certainly be highly notable.