The UK Government has laid regulations before Parliament which will extend the airport slots rules alleviation for the upcoming summer season, which will require airlines to use 70% of their slots in order to keep them, but will also benefit from added flexibility over when they are justified not to use them, for example where a market is substantively closed. If this alleviation wasn’t provided, the usage threshold would default back to 80:20 with no additional flexibility on justified non-use, increasing the risk of ghost flights.
The list of situations where airlines can claim justification for not using their slots is being widened further. As in the current winter season, this will cover situations where COVID-19 related restrictions at either end of a route result in severe reduction in demand; however for the Summer 2022 season it will no longer be necessary for the airline to show that the measures were unforeseeable.
“Leaving the EU has allowed us to take back control of our airport slots rules, giving us greater flexibility to balance the needs of our magnificent aviation industry as it faces up to the pandemic,” said UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps. “Today’s extension marks a step back towards normal rules, helping the sector to recover and grow as travel returns, while protecting it against any future uncertainty.”
Aviation Minister, Robert Courts said: “Since the onset of the pandemic we have provided relief from the slots usage rule to provide financial stability to the sector and prevent environmentally damaging ghost flights.
“As demand for flights returns, it’s right we gradually move back to the previous rules while making sure we continue to provide the sector with the support it needs.”
Under longstanding rules airlines need to use at least 80 per cent of their take-off and landing slots at an airport or risk losing all their flying rights. Those rules were abandoned during pandemic travel restrictions when fleets were all but grounded.
Willie Walsh, director-general of IATA, has criticised the move and noted that the UK’s new temporary regime was more restrictive than the European Union, which has a 64% rule in place. He said that far from stopping ghost flights the new rules would encourage them.
“The UK government decision on slots, proposing the highest slot-use threshold in the world, makes a mockery of their claims to be supporting the recovery of the airline industry and to be champions of the environment,” he said. “This is yet another example of administrative ineptitude from an out-of-touch government.
“It is particularly disappointing to see the government has failed to exploit its self-proclaimed ‘Brexit dividend’. On the contrary, it has put in place a more restrictive slot regime than the EU.
“The government is condemning airlines to operate thousands of flights at low capacity, which is environmentally stupid.”