A European Commission proposal to amend the EU regulation on slot usage obligations, slots at airports (see EUROPE 12443/9), is expected to be unveiled tomorrow, Friday 13 March.
Indeed, under the so-called “80/20 rule”, airlines are obliged to operate at least 80% of the take-off and landing slots reserved for them at European airports, in order to keep them. Despite the drop in bookings and the numerous cancellations linked to COVID-19, they continue to fly their aircraft, even when empty.
To prevent these “ghost flights”, the European Commission has committed itself to temporarily relaxing the obligations of airlines.
The legislative process in this direction has been initiated, said Stefan de Keersmaecker, spokesman for Transport at the European Commission, on Thursday 12 March.
“As a first step, the Commission must adopt its proposal to amend the existing Regulation. Then we will enter a classic period of co-decision between the Council and the Parliament”, said the institution’s spokesman, Eric Mamer. “There is no immediate action by the Commission”, he said.
Much to the chagrin of the airlines. While it is true, as the Commission claims, that slots have already been allocated for the 2020 summer season (which will start on 29 March), slots for next winter have not yet been allocated and will be allocated on the basis of flights during the current winter season, which has been severely disrupted for several weeks.
“This is why we have asked the European Commission to ensure that any exemptions to the ‘80/20 rule’ be retroactive and can even apply from the time the first flights to China were cancelled”, Jennifer Janzen of Airlines for Europe told EUROPE.
In addition, these airlines say they need to know as soon as possible whether they can already cancel flights scheduled for the summer season without risking losing their slots for the summer of 2021. “For the sake of efficiency and predictability”, Airlines for Europe therefore calls for a six-month derogation from the European regulation and immediate implementation.
American hurdle. The situation took a new turn after US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend all travel from Europe for an initial period of 30 days.
Faced with this measure, which will take effect on Friday 13 March and applies only to the Schengen area, it is all the more urgent to “preserve the competitiveness” of European aviation by backing down on the slots, Airlines for Europe believes.
The US government agency responsible for air transport (FAA) has already announced that it will waive the 80% requirement, which is also in force in the United States, until 31 May.
“In doing so, the FAA expects U.S. carriers to receive reciprocal relief from foreign authorities at their country’s airports”, the agency said in a statement.
It gives itself the right not to grant this relief to foreign companies whose home jurisdiction is not similar. In other words, if there are no derogations at European airports, there will be no derogations at American airports either. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)