Belgian Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet wrote to Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean on Monday 3 January to ask for an easing of the rules on airlines’ take-off and landing slots.
Since March 2021, in order to retain their rights, airlines have had to use at least 50% of the slots allocated to them, as opposed to 80% under normal circumstances. However, due to health restrictions in different States, the current demand is not sufficient.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr warned on 23 December that “18,000 unnecessary flights” - some of them entirely empty - could be operated during the winter period to ensure that the group’s airlines retain their rights.
“It is high time to act”, said French MEP Karima Delli (Greens/EFA), urging the Commission to put an end to “this ecological aberration”.
In his letter to the European Commission, the Belgian Minister therefore called for a further relaxation of the rules, after the Commission announced on 15 December that the minimum threshold for airport slots would be raised to 64% by the next summer season. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)