Iata has warned UK government proposals to reform the allocation of airport slots “could have a global impact” and “need to be carefully addressed”.
Willie Walsh, Iata director general, dismissed the government’s justification for the reform, issued at the launch of a slot-reform consultation on December 4.
The Department for Transport (DfT) claimed UK aviation could “shape its own destiny” now Britain is outside the EU, suggesting “cheaper prices could be on the horizon” (Travel Weekly, December 7).
Walsh said: “I pay less attention to what the UK government says about anything these days and I guess that is the same just about everywhere in the world.”
He argued: “Slot allocation is complicated. It needs to be carefully addressed. There is an integrated system. World slot guidelines were developed jointly to allocate scarce resources as efficiently as possible. One airport making changes could have a global impact.”
Walsh noted: “They have been talking about slot reform in the UK for 20 years. There are a lot bigger challenges in the UK market than slot reform.” He suggested: “The DfT will understand the impact if they start changing slot regulation in the UK.”
Carriers must have arrival and departure slots, allocated by an independent slot coordinator according to an internationally recognised system, to use a ‘Level 3’ (slot-regulated) airport.
Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City, Manchester and Birmingham are slot-regulated in the UK.
Iata head of worldwide airport slots John Middleton noted “Europe has half the world’s slot-constrained airports” and explained: “Slots allow airlines to invest in connections and customers and businesses to rely on connectivity.
“The fundamental principle is the ‘historic slot’ or ‘use it or lose it’ rule agreed by slot coordinators, airports and airlines.”
Middleton insisted: “We welcome the opportunity to work with the UK government on the slots system. [But] it would be good for the UK to remain fully in line with the global slot system.”
He added “It’s a pretty wide-ranging consultation. They’ve put everything on the table.
“[But] we’re not in favour of time-limiting historic slots [as proposed in the UK consultation]. Historic slots are a legally protected right under EU law. Airlines are likely to sue if they lose slots.”