Airlines, airports and slot coordinators announced on Thursday 3 September that they had found common ground on airport slots “in order to facilitate a prompt decision by the European Commission”.
The Commission will have the last word on a possible extension of the waiver granted last March to airlines (see EUROPE 12456/17): the latter have been authorised, until 24 October 2020, to disregard the so-called ‘use it or lose it’ rule, which requires them to operate at least 80% of their slots at European airports in order to be able to retain those slots from one season to the next.
Since 1 March, all slots reserved by the airlines have been considered to have been used - whether or not they have been. The fact that the Covid-19 pandemic forced airlines to cancel a large part of their flights and aircraft to remain on the ground will have no impact on future slot allocations.
Lamenting the severe impact of the pandemic on the sector, the threat of a second wave, and constant changes in travel restrictions, airlines have been fighting for some months for an extension of this exceptional measure, which is not without consequences, however, for others in the sector (see EUROPE 12515/5).
Specific conditions
The Airports Council International (ACI), Airlines International Representation in Europe (AIRE), Airlines for Europe (A4E), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the European Airport Coordinators Association (EUACA) have therefore agreed on a set of conditions under which an extension of the rule waiver could be applied for the entire 2020-2021 winter season.
Under those conditions, for example, the extension of the derogation can only apply to series of slots held on 31 August 2020 and not to newly allocated series.
They also require that the waiver not apply to series of slots allocated to an airline that has permanently ceased operations at an airport. In this case, the slots allocated for the remainder of the season and for the following season will have to be surrendered. A company which does not provide the necessary information on its plans for a given airport within a reasonable amount of time could have its slots withdrawn.
As a general rule, airlines will also be expected to return slots not intended to be used as soon as possible, at the latest three weeks before the scheduled use.
“It is now critical that the European Commission formalises an extension of the slots waiver and clarifies how the conditions will be implemented”, the organisations argue.
The Commission, for its part, has just launched a consultation on an initiative to extend the waiver until 2 April (see EUROPE 12550/2). The institution had initially given itself until 15 September to make its decision. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)