November 16, 2007
European Union airports should make more efficient use of take-off and landing slots for airlines and make it easier for new carriers to get space at congested terminals, the European Commission said.
Airports have become better at managing tight capacity but “there is still some room for improvement, especially where it concerns market access and efficient use of slots”, the EU executive said in a statement.
Slots are essentially rights that carriers have to take off or land at specific times.
The Commission cited concerns about the neutrality and independence of coordinators who determine which airlines get which slots at which times and said an EU regulation on the matter had failed to spur competition.
“The provisions that aim to encourage new entrants to get a foothold at congested airports seem to have had only a limited effect on competition and on the best use of scarce capacity,” it said.
It said it would study potential improvements in the rules. “A more structured approach under the regulation to market-based slot allocation could contribute to tackling the scarcity problem,” it said.
(Reuters)