The EU Commission has presented its latest plans on the slot utilization rules. EurECCA sees this as a significant tightening of the acute situation of air transport. Airlines will have to use at least 50% of their slots.
The EU Commission has presented its latest plans on the slot utilization rules. EurECCA sees this as a significant tightening of the acute situation of air transport. Airlines will have to use at least 50% of their slots, i.e., take-off and landing rights, in the winter flight schedule 2021/2022 in order to be able to safely carry them over into the summer flight schedule 2022. In the context of the Corona pandemic, the EU Commission had temporarily suspended the strict slot regulations and only required a minimum level of slot-preserving flights.
The European air transport is still in the early stages of recovery, but still far from pre-crisis levels. The plans of the European Commission would be a massive additional burden for the already struggling air transport sector forcing the airlines to operate so called “ghost flights” with no passengers on board just to have used the respective slots preventing the loss of it. From an environmental perspective, this is highly questionable and not compatible with the presented measures as well as goals out of the “Fitfor55” package.
EurECCA calls the European Commission to reconsider their plans on slot utilization in this still very present pandemic situation. Key aspects that cannot be disregarded are the consequences for the environment and the airlines in general which in turn is directly linked to the job security for hundreds of thousands of workers in this industry.
