UK airports urge government to bring back rules on take-off and landing slots

UK airports are calling on the government to bring back rules, waived during the coronavirus crisis, that force airlines to use or lose their valuable take-off and landing slots. With the aviation industry starting to recover from the pandemic, the CEs of Gatwick, Belfast and Edinburgh airports are demanding a return to strict rules in time for next year’s spring and summer season. The airports, which have written to transport secretary Grant Shapps, have been joined in their push by Wizz Air, the ambitious low-cost Hungarian carrier. London-listed Wizz hopes to use the industry-wide disruption to expand in the UK, but has been blocked by capacity constraints at key airports, notably Gatwick. Airlines must normally hand back a slot if it is not used 80% of the time, but these rules have been dropped throughout the pandemic by both the UK and EU. The waiver has allowed airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, to maintain their bases at airports without having to run flights to destinations hit by travel rules and the collapse in passenger numbers. “We firmly believe that this would be the right time for government to get fully behind our sector by restoring the slot rules and allowing competition to once again flourish for the benefit of the industry and the consumer,” the letter to Shapps said. Marion Geoffroy, managing director of Wizz Air UK, added: “It is simply wrong that some UK airlines should be allowed to hold on to these slots for another season if they have no intention of operating them.” The issue is particularly acute for Gatwick, where several airlines have shifted operations to Heathrow during the crisis. Story has more. <br/>