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Airlines and airports call for flexibility on slot allocations
November 27th 2020
A trio of global aviation bodies this week proposed a modified set of rules for the use of take-off and landing slots at some of the world's busiest airports to preserve connectivity while air traffic recovered from the coronavirus pandemic. Read More »
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airports Council International (ACI) World and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group (WWACG) called on regulators to adopt more flexible slot rules, and said 65% of direct city-pair connections "vanished" in the first quarter of 2020 due to a collapse in demand.
Regulators temporarily suspended slot rules during the northern winter and summer scheduling season. Under existing regulations, airlines that operate 80% of their allocated slots at slot-controlled airports during any particular scheduling season keep their entire allocation for the following season.
The three bodies, which together represented the Worldwide Airport Slot Board (WASB), have proposed some tweaks to existing rules that "preserve the best of the existing rules, while providing the necessary flexibility to air recovery".
They have called for airlines returning a full series of slots by early February be permitted to retain the right to operate them in summer 2022, a lower threshold of 50% for airlines to retain their slots for the following season in the northern hemisphere summer 2021 season and a clear definition for acceptable non-use of a slot, such as a force majeure as a result of short-term border closure or quarantine measures imposed by governments.
The WASB wants the three measures adopted by the end of next month.
"Delays in adopting new rules will further damage the industry when industry finances, and 4.8 million jobs in air transport, hang by a thread,” IATA’s de Juniac said.
ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, said the united position of the air transport industry was "a clear signal to regulators of the extreme urgency of the situation". WWACG chairman, Fred Andreas Wister, added: "It is important relevant authorities take appropriate action to secure for the aviation industry the necessary predictability in the planning process in these extraordinary times for the entire industry."
IATA forecasts showed international air traffic was expected reach 25% of 2019 levels by summer 2021.
Despite the united front, there are elements in the aviation industry opposed to the ongoing suspension of the slot rules, chief among them some LCCs. They argue it gives legacy airlines at hub airports little incentive to keep flying therefore distorting competition.
“Wizz Air finds any attempt to extend the current slot waiver in full, partially or at lower thresholds, totally unacceptable,” Wizz Air CEO, Jozsef Varadi, told the Reuters news agency. IATA's membership is about 290 airlines, representing 82% of global air traffic. It has few LCC members.
