The Airport Slot Allocation Regulations 2006
The UK is required under article 14.5 of EC Regulation 95/93 (as amended) to introduce a scheme of sanctions to control air carriers that repeatedly and intentionally misuse airport slots at the UK’s five coordinated airports (currently; Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester and London City).
In July 2005 the UK Department for Transport (DfT) consulted with industry stakeholders on the best means of controlling the misuse of slots at the coordinated airports in the UK. Following the consultation, the DfT concluded that a sanctions scheme, including financial sanctions, was necessary and that ACL as the coordinator at the UK’s coordinated airports should administer the scheme.
On 1 January 2007 the Airport Slot Allocation Regulations 2006 (SI 2006 No. 2665 – the ‘UK Regulations’) came into effect.
The UK Regulations 14-19 give to ACL, as the appointed Coordinator of the five UK coordinated airports, powers to deal with misuse of slots by imposing fines or in some cases to issue ‘directions’ to achieve this objective. ACL has also been given powers to impose fines where schedule information it has requested is not properly provided at both the schedules facilitated and the coordinated airports in the UK.
The UK Regulations are supplemented by the Misuse of Slots Enforcement Code (the Code), which sets out the processes which the Coordinator and Schedules Facilitator must follow when exercising their powers under the UK Regulation.
The Code was updated in both September 2008 and September 2010 following further consultation by ACL in order to clarify and improve the Code.
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