DfT Consultation: Airport slot allocation system reform, to keep flying cheap
The grip of Britain’s biggest airlines on lucrative UK take-off and landing slots could be loosened under government proposals intended to give travellers more reliable flights and lower prices. The DfT has launched a consultation (ends 9th Feb 2024) on proposals to reform the way in which airlines get slots at airports. Slots are used to manage capacity at the busiest airports, such as Gatwick and Heathrow, and they are valuable assets, jealously guarded. The proposals suggest limiting “slot leasing”, meaning that instead of larger airlines monopolising slots, they can be allocated to smaller, newer and cheaper competitors if they are not used after a set period. Airport landing and take-off rights typically are awarded by historical use, with only a small number reserved for new entrants. The plans are likely to be welcomed by the public as high demand for travel since the pandemic has led to steep fare rises, which are expected to keep rising over the next ten to fifteen years, according to IATA. In the past, “ghost” flights have happened, by which airlines fly empty planes, just in order to keep their slot, and preventing it being sold to another airline.
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DfT Consultation : Airport slot allocation system reform
Open consultation
From: Department for Transport
Published 4 December 2023
Summary
Seeks views on government’s proposals for reform to the airport slot allocation system in the UK.
This consultation closes at
11:59pm on 9 February 2024
Consultation description
This consultation seeks views on the proposals for reform that will apply to slot allocation at Level 3 slot coordinated airports. Level 3 airports in the UK are:
London Heathrow
London Gatwick
London City
London Stansted
London Luton
Manchester
Birmingham
Bristol
Leeds Bradford airport has been approved by the Secretary of State to be designated as a Level 3 airport for the summer season in the night-time only from summer 2024.
Proposals laid out in the consultation will apply to slots held by both passenger and cargo-only flights at these airports. These reform proposals will set out how the slot system will be:
- more efficient, dynamic and transparent
- well-prepared for the allocation of new slots
The reform proposals are not related to – and without prejudice to – the consideration of existing or future airport expansion applications by local planning authorities or ministers.
Slot coordination cannot increase an airport’s capacity. It is the administrative process that makes use of an airport’s existing capacity. It is also a planning tool that helps ensure the operations of an airport remain within set capacity limits and environmental obligations – including night flight and noise limits.
This consultation is published alongside the Slot allocation at Heathrow: runway expansion research and the Slot allocation at an expanded Heathrow: alternative mechanism experiment reports.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/airport-slot-allocation-system-reform
Big airlines set to lose their grip on take-off and landing slots
By Isabella Fish
Monday December 04 2023, The Times
The grip of Britain’s biggest airlines on lucrative UK take-off and landing slots could be loosened under government proposals intended to give travellers “smoother getaways and cheaper prices”.
The Department for Transport is launching a consultation today on proposals to reform the way in which airlines book slots at airports.
Slots are used to manage capacity at the busiest airports, such as Gatwick and Heathrow. They are among airlines’ most valuable assets and can be traded for tens of millions of pounds.
The proposals suggest limiting “slot leasing”, meaning that instead of larger airlines monopolising slots, they can be allocated to smaller, newer and cheaper competitors if they are not used after a set period. Airport landing and take-off rights typically are awarded by historical use, with only a small number reserved for new entrants.
A source said the reforms would “limit how many slots are given to the bigger airlines, which currently dominate the sector” — such as British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic — and would allow low-cost carriers to obtain more of the positions.
Anthony Browne, the aviation minister, said: “This consultation will bring the sector to the forefront of decision-making, helping to end monopolies within the slot regime, drive healthy competition between airlines and make the aviation sector more dynamic for the future, while also benefiting millions of passengers.”
The government said increased industry competition and “more efficient” airport operations could result in lower prices for travellers. The plans are likely to be welcomed by the public as high demand for travel since the pandemic has led to steep fare rises, which are expected to keep rising over the next ten to fifteen years, according to the International Air Transport Association, the global airlines body.
The existing slot allocation system, which is based on European Union regulations, has remained unchanged for 20 years. The government said it wanted to use “Brexit freedoms” to “ensure that the system takes the UK’s specific needs into account”.
Karen Dee, chief executive of Airport Operators Association, the industry body, welcomed reforms that she said could “improve efficiency and resilience at UK airports and the government consultation is a welcome step in that direction. It has the potential to provide passengers with benefits through increased competition and better capacity to deal with delays.” However, she warned that the government must “not see this as an opportunity to increase its ability to direct airports where to allocate any new slot capacity.”
An aviation source said: “The aviation industry is a successful private industry. We don’t want to see government intervention, because it could mean a lack of passenger choice, airlines being unable to develop the routes they want to and a lack of competition within the sector.”
Airlines UK, a trade body, said it was awaiting the details of the proposals in the consultation, which it “looked forward to responding to”.
See earlier:
DfT reinstates 70% slot use rule from end of March – with some flexibility for future Covid impacts
The Department for Transport has announced that airlines will have to hand back airport take-off and landing slots if they were not used 70% of the time from March 27th, for the summer period, up from the current threshold of 50%. Before Covid, airlines had to use 80% of their slots, or risk losing them. This limit was removed entirely for the first part of the pandemic, but reverted to 50% use. Airlines have warned they will be forced to run empty or half-empty and polluting “ghost flights” in order to meet the 70% limit, even if there is not enough demand for flights. This makes no sense, in terms of trying to reduce carbon emissions from the sector. However, the DfT has said there will be more flexibility, so airlines will be allowed to miss the 70% limit if there are real Covid travel restrictions in future, limiting travel. Airports like Gatwick are keen to have a high slot use requirement, so airlines that can not meet the quota have to relinquish slots to others – thus new airlines can start up routes. But for the airlines, high slot use requirements mean losing money – and higher CO2 emissions. They are against the re-imposition of high slot use requirements.
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European airlines having to fly empty flights due to continuing slot use requirement
During the height of the Covid pandemic, the EU suspended the normal slot allocation process for airlines, that had forced them to use at least 80% of their slots – or lose them. The aim is to ration space at busy airports. During Covid, most airports had below half as many flights as in 2019. Now the EU has decided to start reinstating the slot use rules, and in December the European Commission set the threshold to 50% for the winter travel season. Lufthansa Group, which includes Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss said it would have to run18,000 unnecessary flights from mid-December to mid-March to comply. That is crazy in terms of carbon (and airline costs, for zero benefit). Lufthansa said it plans to cancel 33,000 scheduled flights by the end of March because of a slump in demand caused by Omicron. In the US, slot rules are still suspended. In the UK the partial suspension (50% use) continues until the end of March 2022. Greenpeace called the empty flights “absurd” and pointed to “a new low for the sector that is kept afloat with government support”.
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