  We discuss diffractive production of open charm and bottom mesons at the LHC.
The differential cross sections for single- and central-diffractive mechanisms
for $c\bar c$ and $b\bar b$ pair production are calculated in the framework of
the Ingelman-Schlein model corrected for absorption effects. The LO gluon-gluon
fusion and quark-antiquark anihilation partonic subprocesses are taken into
consideration, which are calculated within standard collinear approximation.
The extra corrections from reggeon exchanges are taken into account. The
hadronization of charm and bottom quarks is taken into account by means of
fragmentation functions. Predictions for single- and central-diffractive
production in the case of $D$ and $B$ mesons, as well as $D\bar D$ pairs are
presented, including detector acceptance of the ATLAS, CMS and LHCb
Collaborations.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology