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
Long Island MacArthur Airport in the borough of Queens in New York City. Shuttle buses connect the airport to the Ronkonkoma Railroad Station. The FAA designated LIMA an Official Metro Airport in early 2011, meaning it is now grouped with LaGuardia, JFK and Newark in travel and informational searches for New York airports, providing better exposure to the traveling public. MacArthur Airport, which does not share the congested airspace of the city-centric airports, has an exceptional record of on-time performance. During 2009 83.6% of flights arrived on time and 85.6% of flights departed on time. During 2017 the airport served more than 1.29 million