Airport Slots Sales To Ease Congestion
AIRCRAFT landing slots are to be more freely and formally auctioned under proposals from Brussels designed to give 19 European airports more capacity.
As part of the EU's recently launched "Better Airports" package, the trading of lucrative takeoff and landing slots at airports such as Heathrow is to be liberalised and made more transparent.
The slots are currently traded on a secondary market. Transparency would mean sharing more information with the authorities and airlines about when and which slots are available. It is also likely to mean more independence for the national bodies which give the slots out.
The European Commission (EC) says it will "introduce market-based mechanisms for the trading of slots between airlines in a transparent way, as well as measures to ensure that existing capacity is used by airlines".
The slots shake-up would allow the system to handle 24 million more passengers a year by 2025. This could create up to 62,000 jobs from now until that date.
EC vice president Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport, said: "Europe's airports are facing a capacity crunch. If business and the travelling public are to take best advantage of the air network, we have to act now.
"About 70 per cent of all delays to flights are already caused by problems on the ground not in the air. On present trends, 19 key European airports will be full to bursting by 2030.
"The resulting congestion could mean delays for half of all flights across the network.
"The status quo is not an option for airports in Europe. Faced with intense global competition, if we do not change the way we do business, we may not be doing business at all."
Under the proposals, airlines would also be forced to use valuable take-off and landing slots more often or lose them. Heathrow slots can change hands for millions of pounds.
The EC has proposed raising the threshold on the "use it or lose it" rule from 80 per cent to 85 per cent of the time. The rule has led to airlines operating ghost flights to hold on to slots.
The airports package includes measures on ground-handling and noise. It is subject to consultation and it's likely to be several years before it is introduced, according to aviation insiders.
Airline association IATA acknowledged that legalising secondary trading of airport slots would provide a regulatory foundation for a practice that has become widespread.
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