Vueling will fly twice-daily to its Barcelona base and daily to Paris Orly, its second hub.  Both routes are on sale with flights operating from 7 April. The Paris service will be the only UK connection to the French capital’s secondary airport.

Vueling has launched flights after leasing 42 weekly slots from BA. Vueling and BA are both owned by International Airlines Group and the Spanish carrier also leases a large number of BA’s Gatwick slots.

Vueling, which will operate from Heathrow’s Terminal 4, said the move “marks a significant expansion of the airline’s footprint beyond its main UK hub at London Gatwick”.

The two Barcelona flights are added to the eight a day operated from Gatwick.

Carolyn Prowse, Vueling’s chief commercial, customer, network and strategy officer, said:

“We are delighted to relaunch operations from London Heathrow, UK’s largest airport. These two new routes are in addition to our existing operation from London Gatwick and positions Vueling as one of the key airlines connecting these major hubs across Europe. 

“This relaunch has been possible thanks to our strong collaboration with British Airways.”

Separately, BA has leased Egypt Air two daily slots under a remedy agreement designed to increase competition to Cairo. The summer lease means Egypt Air can operate three flights a day.

In addition, Virgin Atlantic has also gained 10 slots a week, to be used on New York JFK services, after purchasing them from KLM. Virgin has also leased slots used for its Tel Aviv flights to Emirates after deciding not to resume services this summer.