In March 2012, the European Commission (EC) granted regulatory clearance to the acquisition by International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) of British Midland Limited (bmi), subject to the Commitments entered into by IAG to release London Heathrow (LHR) slot pairs on selected short-haul and long-haul city pairs.
In order to resolve the competition concerns raised by the EC, IAG was obliged to make a number of daily landing and take-off slots available at LHR.
For the IATA Winter 2024/2025 Season, a maximum of six (6) Daily slots and five (5) weekly slots are available each day of the week (47 slot pairs in total). There will be up to 12 weekly slots available in the morning, up to four (4) daily slots available in the afternoon, and up to five (5) daily slots available in the evening time bands. These slot pairs may be used for operations on LHR-Aberdeen, LHR-Edinburgh, LHR-Nice, LHR-Cairo and LHR-Riyadh only. Subject to the maximum of 47 weekly Slots available, in accordance with clause 1.1.1 of the Commitments and Slots awarded to Prospective Entrants in previous Slot Release Procedures, a maximum of one (1) daily Slot (seven (7) weekly frequencies) is available to Applicants on the Identified City Pairs (London – Aberdeen, Cairo, Edinburgh, Nice, Riyadh). A maximum of 47 weekly Slots are available to Applicants on the Identified UK City Pairs (London-Aberdeen and / or Edinburgh).Please see the link below for further details on the process that must be followed by airlines wishing to apply for these slots.
http://www.mazars.co.uk/Home/Our-Services/Audit-assurance/Monitoring-trustee-services/IAG-BMI-CASE-NO.-M.6447
All S24 SAL’s have been issued. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.
ACL will provide alleviation for all slot cancellations on 28th and 29th August due to the UK Airspace disruption.
ACL issued EasyJet a Notice of Final Decision on 23 August 2023 for operating without a slot during Summer 2023 at London Luton Airport. Please see here.
ACL issued TUI Airways a Notice of Final Decision on 15 August 2023 for operating a slot at a time different to that cleared by the coordinator during Summer 2023 at Manchester airport. Please see here.
Case M.6447 IAG/bmi – Slot Release Procedure for Summer 2024
In March 2012, the European Commission (EC) granted regulatory clearance to the acquisition by International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) of British Midland Limited (bmi), subject to the Commitments entered into by IAG to release London Heathrow (LHR) slot pairs on selected short-haul and long-haul city pairs.
In order to resolve the competition concerns raised by the EC, IAG was obliged to make a number of daily landing and take-off slots available at LHR.
For the IATA Summer 2024 Season, a maximum of seven (7) daily slots are available each day of the week (49 slot pairs in total). There will be up to two (2) daily slots available in the morning, up to four (4) daily slots available in the afternoon and up to four (4) daily slots available in the evening time bands. These slot pairs may be used for operations on LHR-Aberdeen, LHR-Edinburgh, LHR-Nice, LHR-Cairo and LHR-Riyadh only.
Please see the link for further details on the process that must be followed by airlines wishing to apply for these slots.
http://www.mazars.co.uk/Home/Our-Services/Audit-assurance/Monitoring-trustee-services/IAG-BMI-CASE-NO.-M.6447
Published: August 2023
ACL issued British Airways a Notice of Final Decision on 13 July 2023 for one no-slot operation during Summer 2023 at London Heathrow airport. Please see here.
ACL has issued guidance on the treatment of cancellations due to bad weather. It can be read here.
The sun is shining, leaves are on the trees and new life is sprouting everywhere. Spring is finally here and for Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) that means the Summer season is now in swing. So what does ACL’s data show us about how airlines are gearing up for their busiest time of year?
Recovery continues to be at the forefront of the industries minds and the Secretary of State for Transport appears to be in agreement. The government issued guidance on Summer 2023 acknowledges the pandemic continues to impact air traffic and that the road to recovery is ongoing.
ACL’s position as the UK’s designated slot coordinator provides unique insight into UK Level 3 airports, and the impact of the alleviation offered for the Summer 2023 season. Airlines had the opportunity to gain alleviation on up to 5% of their historic slots, which were cancelled between the hand-back deadline (HBD – 01 February 2023) and 14 February 2023 (HBD+14).
Across the UK Level 3 network, London Heathrow Airport saw the smallest reduction in slots between initial coordination (SAL – 03 November 2023) and the time of the HBD, with a slots hand-back rate of 0.71%. In contrast, Birmingham Airport saw the greatest rate of hand-backs, observed at 14.05%. This was also the case between SAL and HBD +14 (-4.73% & -16.73% respectively). Overall ACL observed a hand back rate of just under 5% at the time of the HBD, increasing to 7.5% at HBD +14.
During the 14 days period after hand backs, London Stanstead Airport surprisingly saw minor growth in the airport schedule with ITA Airways adding over 1,300 slots and Jet2 a further 250 more than offsetting any reduction. London Gatwick saw the greatest reduction in slots (3.96%) with easyJet making up more than half of this reduction.
In general we didn’t see carriers taking up their full 5% allowance between HBD and HBD+14, only 2.86% was taken on average across Level 3 airports. Looking back at the similar process for Winter 22/23 season where carriers could hand back 10% of slots for 7 days after HBD they handed back around 8%. Read into this what you will, however this could be read as a sign that airlines are ready to operate more in S23 and start to get back to S19 levels.