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 2023/2024 Season, two (2) slot pairs will be available for each day of the week. In addition, there will be four (4) slots pairs available on Saturday only and two (2) slot pairs available on Sunday only (20 slot pairs in total). 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.
The Department for Transport has laid a new Statutory Instrument (SI) in Parliament to provide alleviation for the Summer 2023 season. The full text is available here. This SI provides a utilisation rate of 80% with a pre-season hand-back option for up to 5% of slots held. This new SI retains and widens the justified non-use provisions. ACL will issue guidance shortly.
ACL go back to the raw data to reveal what really happened to UK flight recovery in the Summer 2022 season.
Following two years of the Covid pandemic impacting the ability to travel, there was hope that Summer 2022 (S22) would see recovery. Regulators moved utilisation targets closer to the standard 80/20, passengers were signalling a desire to get travelling, and recruitment across the industry was in full swing.
What was not clear at the start of the season was the impact that the resource shortage was going to have on the ability to satisfy the returning demand. Media reports were soon appearing across all channels showing long queues as passengers were processed through airports. While reports of on the day cancellations lead to further inconvenience for the travelling public. With the industry tying to meet demand, recover lost revenue from previous years and ensure they didn’t lose the historic entitlement to slots, the pressure was on to operate.
The UK Government took the unusual step to intervene mid-season by legislating at speed to provide the pressure release the industry required. Alleviation from the already reduced utilisation threshold of 70% was granted for a further 30% of slots held at that point. During the two week return window a total of 45,529 slots were handed back across UK coordinated airports. That equates to 32% of the possible cancellations under the amended Regulation and a 10% reduction in slots for the remainder of the season. Very few airlines made use of the full 30% which lead to London Heathrow mandating further cancellations to reduce demand. This was to ensure a safe operation across the airport.
All of the above factors impacted the performance of S22 when compared to the previous three seasons with particular focus on comparison against pre pandemic levels in Summer 2019 (S19).
Note: S19 and S20 seasons were 30 weeks in length, and S21 and S22 seasons were 31 weeks in length. S19 and S20 movement numbers have been normalised to ensure a like for like comparison
As you would expect the movement numbers season on season across the UK’s Level 3 coordinated airports have shown a gradual improvement following the initial shock in Summer 2020 (S20). Despite the strong indication that demand was returning at the initial coordination stage for S22, the impact of resourcing issues and the lingering effect, albeit reducing, of Covid meant that S22 numbers continued to be below that of S19 levels. In our start of the season update, Airport Capacity Analyst, Christakis Christodoulou, reported that scheduled movements across these same airports sat at 4.58% below S19. https://www.acl-uk.org/news/a-shaky-summer/
S22 season saw most UK Level 3 airports double their scheduled movements compared to S21, despite the issues experienced which demonstrates the potential strong demand following the Covid-19 pandemic. Out of these airports, London Gatwick Airport (LGW) saw the strongest recovery, with carriers such as British Airways scheduling to operate 13 times more of slots than held in the S21 season. LGW’s biggest operator, easyJet, also contributed to the recovery of the airport, scheduling 3 times as many slots than in the S21 season.
Despite the recovery, S22 did not exceed or meet the same levels of demand which was observed in 2019. London City Airport (LCY), which saw the largest decrease in demand since S19, was significantly impacted in 2020 with the loss of Flybe. Even though the Flybe brand has returned to the sky under new ownership in 2022, the operator has yet to return to LCY. Bristol and London Stansted both recovered to be only single percentage digits behind S19 levels.
All the signs were there for S22 to be far better than materialised. Without the impact of the resourcing issues, we believe we would have been reporting a more positive review of the season. As we move into Summer 2023 (S23) planning, the question remains if such operational disruption will continue to impact recovery. Government has started its consultation of potential alleviation measures for the season. Only when this concludes will we get our first indication of the optimism of the industry.
ACL will continue to report on what we’re seeing from our extensive database of planned flying at UK airports including a summary of initial coordination for S23.
Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) coordinate 72 airports worldwide, including 26 UK and Republic of Ireland airports and 35 airports in the Middle East. With all eyes on Qatar for the FIFA World Cup, the region has looked to their Middle-eastern partners to support getting the 1.2 million fans from across the world into the country. Nine of ACL’s Middle-Eastern Airports are supporting this venture.
Here we share our infographic of the passenger flight statistics so far…
Did you know? ACL have a long history of coordinating major international sporting and political events. To find out more, and discover how we can help your airport manage extreme demand, visit our Special Events page – Special Events Coordination
Did you know?
ACL hold all the flight data for slot schedules at our 72 airports, worldwide. Businesses can use this data to support their own planning, operations and analysis. If you would like to know more about our data and get in touch, visit our Data Services page – Data Services
Data analysis by Airport Coordinator, Oliver Thompson. Imagery by Denise Wakeford, Sales and Marketing Lead.
Case M.6447 IAG/bmi – Slot Release Procedure for Summer 2023
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 2023 Season, three (3) slot pairs will be available for each day of the week. In addition, there will be four (4) slots pairs available on Saturday only and two (2) slot pairs available on Sunday only (27 slot pairs in total). 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.
The Department for Transport has laid a new Statutory Instrument (SI) in Parliament to provide alleviation for the Winter 2022 season. The full text is available here. This SI provides a utilisation rate of 70% with a pre-season hand-back option for up to 10% of slots held. This new SI retains and widens the justified non-use provisions. ACL will issue guidance shortly.
Riga Airport and Airport Coordination Ltd. have extended the contract for the collection and processing of flight data for three years.
“While implementing the Airport development projects provided for in the medium-term strategy “Runway 2027″, including planning to start the construction of the new Airport terminal in the next few years, cooperation with ACL in the collection and processing of flight data will allow us to effectively plan cooperation with the airlines operating in Riga and fully utilize the capacity of the Airport’s existing infrastructure”, says Laila Odiņa, Chairperson of the Board of Riga Airport.
Neil Garwood, CEO of Airport Coordination Limited said, ‘ACL is delighted to continue its successful partnership with Riga Airport, achieving the best solutions for the airport and its airline partners. We are proud to support the airports’ strategic development plans over the next three years and look forward to ensuring coordination excellence at Riga Airport for many years to come.’
About Airport Coordination Ltd
ACL is the world’s first independent airport slot coordinator. It is headquartered in Staines, Middlesex, near London Heathrow Airport. ACL provides world-leading coordination, facilitation, and data collection services at 72 airports across four continents from its offices in the UK, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. Coordination at Riga Airport is one of many airports supported across Europe, enhancing ACL’s global position as the world’s leading and largest independent coordinator.
About Riga Airport
Riga Airport is a fast-growing Northern European air traffic hub, connecting the Baltic countries with European business centres and popular holiday destinations. Being aware of its role and responsibility in the national economy of Latvia, Riga Airport develops sustainable services and infrastructure, taking care of its employees and the environment, and keeping pace with society and the local community. By joining the Net Zero 2050 initiative, Riga Airport has committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
Please see the below note from Manchester Airport regarding a temporary movement limit for S22.
Following the DfT’s decision on 21st June to implement slot alleviation measures for the remainder of the Summer 2022 season, we (Manchester Airport) have been giving urgent consideration to the need for additional measures to control the reallocation of slots that are handed-back as part of this process.
The purpose of this email is to inform you that, effective from 25th June, Manchester Airport will be implementing temporary movement limits to prevent the reallocation of slots that are released back to ACL. The commencement of the temporary limits aligns with the start of the DfT’s 14-day slot hand-back window from 25th June to 8th July. The goal of this temporary limit is to support the use of the DfT slot handback process to depressure current airport operations, and to minimise any further changes to operational planning during this volatile period
For the rest of the season, or until this limit is reviewed, new slot requests will be tested against an all-day total movement limit of 475atms/day. This movement rate is equivalent to the number of daily movements currently operating a Manchester (w/c 20th June). For purposes of clarity, all slots already allocated above this limit will be honoured, and this movement limit does not apply to GA, freight or positioning movements.
To be clear, the temporary limits will still enable airlines to operate slots that have already been allocated for the summer season. However, it will not be possible for ACL to reallocate slots that are handed-back, or any new slots, above this temporary limit for as long as it remains in place.
We propose to review this temporary limit following the closure of the hand-back window on 8th July, taking account of airline’s responses to the DfT’s slot alleviation measures.
We will also continue to review the need for further measures, including a local rule to reduce overall capacity levels, over the coming weeks based on discussions with airlines and ground handlers through the Airport Partner Working Group (MAN-APWG).
I hope you will appreciate the need to introduce these measures at short notice given the announcement from the DfT earlier this week. Please contact Andy Clark (andy.clark@acl-uk.org) if you have any questions.
Today (21 June), the UK Government laid a Statutory Instrument (SI) granting additional alleviation from normal slots rules for the remainder of the Summer 2022 season. This is in addition to the Covid alleviation granted on 22 March 2022 and aims to help carriers improve resilience in the system for the summer peak (in light of recent disruption at UK airports due to staff shortages).
Under the new SI, carriers have a window (from 25 June until 8 July 2022) in which they can hand back up to 30% of slots held at a particular airport for the remainder of the S22 season (i.e. the period from 9 July 2022 until 29 October). Carriers will get alleviation for those slots handed back by the 8 July deadline if they have meet the criteria as set out in the SI. This measure only applies to slots with a date of 9 July onwards but the handback must also take place at least 14 days in advance of the date of the slots (so for example, on 25 June an airline would be able to return slots with a date of 9 July or later, whereas on 8 July it would only be able to return slots with a date of 22 July or later). ACL will issue further guidance in due course.
