Virgin Atlantic will be operating domestic flights from Scotland to Heathrow from next spring after being offered all the remaining slots that British Airways was forced to relinquish after its takeover of bmi.
The airline will be moving into short haul flying in the UK for the first time with daily flights from Edinburgh and Aberdeen joining the Manchester service already announced for April 2013.
European competition authorities compelled BA to give up 14 slot pairs at the London hub as a condition of approving its merger with bmi, which parent company IAG bought from Lufthansa last year for £186m in the face of bitter protest from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin.
The airline could also fly to Nice and anticipates discussions with both the EU and the CAA to decide how to assign the two slot pairs originally designated for Moscow. The CAA recently granted the remaining rights to that route under a bilateral agreement with Russia to EasyJet.
Virgin has long maintained that its business case depended on winning all the remedy slots to feed in enough transfer traffic at Heathrow to its long-haul flights to the US and elsewhere.
The airline's chief executive, Steve Ridgway, said: "We have fought hard for the right to fly short haul and take a strong challenge to British Airways within these shores. For 28 years both airlines have battled for customers all over the world and it has meant that British consumers have ultimately had some of the world's best flying and lowest fares.
"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 re-injection of vital competition we can provide on these routes."
Virgin expects to announce an exact timetable in the next fortnight, and will lease an Airbus A320, which typically seat around 150 passengers, for its UK flights. Industry observers have questioned how it will replicate its brand on short-haul flights, and whether profits can be made on routes where bmi struggled.
