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
Asheville Regional Airport (MCO) both via Charlotte. Piedmont was the only airline operating jet service into Asheville by February 1985 according to the OAG with Boeing 727-200 and Fokker F28 Fellowship nonstop flights from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte and Roanoke as well as direct one stop 727 service from Denver, Miami and New York LaGuardia Airport plus direct one stop F28 service from New York Newark Airport. This same OAG also lists nonstop Delta Connection flights from Atlanta operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) on behalf of Delta on a code sharing basis with de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 and Short 360 turboprops