Air Transport

BMI has added £770 million ($1.5 billion) to its balance sheet by revaluing its London Heathrow slot holdings.

The carrier holds 11% of Heathrow's scarce slot pool, second only to British Airways' 41%. In the wake of the 2007 US-European Union open skies deal BMI says the number of slot trade transactions has increased significantly revaluing its portfolio took its net asset value to £800 million as of 31 December 2007, compared with £12 million a year earlier.

Chief financial officer Robert Palmer says: "This is a much better reflection on the net asset value of BMI."

Last month, financial services firm Deloitte & Touche proposed that airlines should include slots as assets on their balance sheets, enabling them to be used as security against borrowings. In its analysis Deloitte valued a peak-time Heathrow slot at around £25-30 million.

The slot valuation move comes as the market keenly awaits news of the future ownership BMI - and its envied slot pool - which is likely to reach a head by mid-2009.

BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop, who owns 50% plus one share, and 30% shareholder Lufthansa have a set of buy and sell options in place that expire by June 2009. Minority shareholder SAS is also looking to sell its 20% stake.