Virgin Atlantic provided BAA, which ran both Heathrow and Gatwick on behalf of the UK government, and the Secretary of State for Transport granted permission. The Civil Aviation Authority also transferred two pairs of unused landing slots that British Airways held at Tokyo's Narita Airport to Virgin to let it increase its frequency between Heathrow and Tokyo from four to six weekly round trips, making it easier for Virgin to compete against British Airways. The then-chairman of BA Lord King called the CAA's decision, which the government had endorsed, "a confiscation of his company's property". In the year to October 1993, Virgin
Istanbul Airport - the new official name of 'Istanbul Airport' was announced at the opening ceremony. The first flight from the airport was Turkish Airlines flight TK2124 to the Turkish capital Ankara on 31 October, 2018. On 1 November 2018, five daily flights began to arrive and depart from the airport: from Ankara, Antalya, Baku, North Nicosia, and İzmir, followed by Adana and Trabzon starting in December. The flights are all operated by Turkish Airlines. Regularly scheduled flights to these destinations will still depart from Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen airports alongside these trial flights. It was originally planned that on 31 December