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
Wilmington Airport (Delaware) large overhaul base for its overseas planes at the airport until 1957 when the airline moved it to the Kansas City Overhaul Base which became the basis for today's Kansas City International Airport. Delaware's first airline flights were operated by TWA and American Airlines at Wilmington in late 1947. By 1967, Eastern Airlines was operating Douglas DC-9 jet service into the airport with nonstops to New York Newark Airport, Philadelphia Airport, and Washington D.C. National Airport as well as direct flights to Atlanta and Charlotte. In the late 1990s the county leased the debt-stricken airport to the bi-state Delaware River