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Virgin Atlantic intends to start flying from Heathrow to Moscow next year as part of plans to build a broader network of short and mid-haul flights connecting at the London hub, reported The Guardian.
The airline said it would operate daily flights to the Russian capital should it win the slots British Airways has to give up at Heathrow.
The merger of the two British airlines that served Moscow, bmi and BA, means a competitor will be given the rights to start services, and Virgin's announcement shows it believes it is in pole position. Traffic between Moscow and London has trebled in the past 10 years and demand on the route continues to grow.
Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic's chief executive, said the airline believed it should win all 12 remaining slots.
"Linking these two cities will be an important part of our strategy to run short-haul flights into Heathrow, thus feeding our long-haul network. It will also radically improve competition on the route," he said.
The European commission has said International Airlines Group, British Airways' parent company, should release 14 of the 56 slot pairs it acquired at Heathrow after the purchase of bmi from Lufthansa. Virgin expects to win at least some of the slots to allow it to expand into Russia. Two have already been allocated to Transaero, the Russian airline.
Virgin is due to relaunch its route to Mumbai in October, allowing the airline to connect passengers from India to its US-bound services at Heathrow.
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