Airline and airport bodies split on EU’s 50:50 slot threshold

Airports body ACI Europe has welcomed the EC’s decision to set a 50% slot usage threshold for the upcoming Winter 2021 season, in stark contrast to the condemnation of the move from airlines body IATA. Describing the 50% threshold as “pragmatic and proportionate” – compared with IATA’s insistence that it was ”out of touch with reality” – ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec suggests that a higher threshold might have been viable and that he expects the level to increase for the summer 2022 season, before a return to the 80:20 usage rule in Winter 2022. “The aviation sector, having been brought to its knees by the pandemic, can and must now embrace and build upon the green shoots of recovery,” says Jankovec. “And whilst a return to 2019 passenger levels remains a distant vision, our ‘new normal’ does increasingly come with growing levels of stability, thanks to vaccination, certification and testing protocols. This means that a gradual return to slot usage rules, following much needed temporary relief in a time of crisis, is now appropriate.” Jankovec’s positive response follows a markedly negative one from IATA. “The result of these changes will be to restrict the ability of airlines to operate with the agility needed to respond to unpredictable and rapidly changing demand, leading to environmentally wasteful and unnecessary flights,” the airline association said on 23 July.<br/>