Landing slots
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Landing slots or Airport slots are rights allocated to an entity by an airport or government agency granting the slot owner the right to schedule a landing or departure during a specific time period. Landing slots at some major airports are controlled by grandfather rights for airlines that were in place when these restrictions were added, for example: British Airways at Heathrow Airport.
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[edit] Airports currently assigning slots
[edit] Brazil
[edit] China
[edit] Germany
- Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport - Berlin
- Düsseldorf International Airport - Düsseldorf
- Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt
- Franz Josef Strauss International Airport - Munich
- Stuttgart Airport - Stuttgart
[edit] Japan
[edit] Netherlands
[edit] Republic of Ireland
[edit] United Kingdom
The allocation of landing slots to airlines at four UK airports is carried out by Airport Co-ordination Limited (ACL). ACL is an independent non-profit organisation whose slot allocation programme is governed by British and European law and IATA Worldwide Scheduling Guidelines. ACL is funded by ten British airlines, tourism operators and airport owner/operator BAA, which pay the ACL a fee for providing scheduling information. The apparent conflict between the need to provide an independent slot allocation service and serving the interests of the funding airlines is waved away by ACL, which stated that:
| “ | No member airline receives direct benefit, in terms of preferential treatment in slot allocation decisions made by ACL. All airlines are treated the same, in accordance with UK and European Slot Regulations which ensure that decisions made by ACL are made in a 'neutral, transparent and non-discriminatory' way. Members believe that it is reasonable for them to contribute to the cost of slot allocation in the UK, since the cost of the coordination task in other countries is borne by their Governments or national carriers. Contributing to the cost of ACL avoids the need for Government intervention of control of slot allocation and ensures that all the airlines receive a high quality coordination service. Any airline may apply to join ACL, and the Company is pro-active in seeking to expand its membership base. | ” |
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— Airport Coordination Limited, [1]
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There have been calls for the slot allocation process to be made a free market. (See e.g. Centre for Land Policy Studies[2]).
Slots at the following UK airports are allocated by ACL:
- London Gatwick Airport - London
- London Heathrow Airport - London
- London Stansted Airport - London
- Manchester Airport - Manchester
[edit] United States
- LaGuardia Airport - New York City, New York
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport - Washington, D.C.
