19.2.91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 43/3 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on common rules for the allocation of slots at 
Community airports 
COM(90) 576 final 
(Submitted by the Commission on 18 December 1990) 
(91/C 43/04) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Whereas future evolution should allow for the entrance 
of new carriers into the Community market; 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing- the European 
Economic Community and in particular Article 84 (2) 
thereof, 
Whereas the present system gives preference to grand-
TT • J L i r i r- • • father rights and does not always facilitate new entrants; 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, J 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas there is a growing imbalance between the 
expansion of the air transport system in Europe and the 
availability of adequate airport infrastructure to meet 
that demand; whereas there is, as a consequence, an 
increasing number of congested airports in the 
Community; 
Whereas the allocation of slots at congested airports 
should be based on neutral, transparent and 
non-discriminatory rules; 
Whereas the requirement of neutrality is best guaranteed 
when the decision to coordinate an airport is taken by 
the Member State responsible for that airport on the 
basis of objective criteria; 
Whereas the Member State responsible for the coor­
dinated airport should appoint a coordinator whose 
neutrality should be beyond any doubt; 
Whereas transparency of information is an essential 
element for ensuring an objective procedure for slot allo­
cation; 
Whereas the principles governing the present system of 
slot allocations could be the basis of the present Regu­
lation provided that this system evolves in harmony with 
the evolution of the new transport developments in the 
Community; Whereas it is Community policy to lower barriers to 
competition and to encourage entrance into the market, 
as provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 
2343/90 (') and whereas these objectives require strong 
support for carriers who intend to start operations on 
intra-Community routes with limited competition; 
Whereas it is necessary to require Member States or their 
appointees to ensure that a minimum number of slots are 
available for operations on intra-Community routes even 
where an aiport is held to be congested; 
Whereas any withdrawal of grandfather rights should 
respect the principle of proportionality and should 
therefore be limited to the number of slots necessary to 
meet the needs of new entrants at the airport in question, 
while ensuring that all incumbent carriers at that airport 
are treated in a comparable manner, taking into account 
the number of slots used by each, and avoiding 
unnecessary disturbances of existing arrangements; 
Whereas it is also necessary to avoid situations whereby 
one Community air carrier can introduce a service or 
increase frequency on an existing service and other 
Community air carriers cannot reciprocate these 
initiatives owing to a lack of available slots; whereas this 
could mean that the benefits of liberalization are 
unevenly spread and competition is impaired; 
(')OJ No L 217, 11. 8. 1990, p. 8. 
No C 43/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 19.2.91 
Whereas in the cases referred to in the eleventh and 
twelfth recitals, air carriers which have been granted new 
slots must use these slots for the purpose for which they 
were requested over a period of time considered to be 
sufficient; 
Whereas it is appropriate for the Community to offer 
new entrant air carriers from third countries treatment 
comparable to that offered by those countries to 
Community air carriers; 
Whereas the adoption of a Regulation for the allocation 
of slots at Community airports should not have a 
negative effect on the operations of small air carriers, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Scope of the Regulation 
This Regulation shall apply to the allocation of slots at 
Community airports. 
Article 2 
Definitions 
For the purpose of this Regulation: 
(a) 'slot' means the scheduled time of arrival or 
departure available or allocated to an aircraft 
movement on a specific date at an airport during 
periods which are coordinated; 
(b) 'new entrant' means an air carrier 
— not holding more than three slots on any day at 
a coordinated airport and requesting further 
slots for services on that day, 
or 
— not holding more than 30 % of slots held by all 
air carriers on a day at a coordinated airport or 
at another airport in the same airport system and 
requesting further slots at that airport during 
that day to commence services falling within the 
scope of Regulation (EEC) No 2343/90 on a 
route on which at most two other air carriers are 
exercising third or fourth freedom traffic rights 
between the airports concerned during that day; 
(c) 'congested airport' means an airport where the 
capacity for more than one hour on any day does 
not meet the demand or forecast demand; (d) 'scheduling period' means either the summer or 
winter season as used in the schedules of air carriers; 
(e) 'Community air carrier' means the air carriers 
defined in Article 2 (e) of Regulation (EEC) No 
2343/90; 
(f) 'coordinated airport' means an airport where, in 
order to land or take off, it is necessary for an air 
carrier to have a slot allocated by an airport coor­
dinator; 
(g) 'airport system' means two or more airports grouped 
together as defined in Article 2 (k) of Regulation 
(EEC) No 2343/90; 
(h) 'historical precedence' means a slot that has been 
operated by an air carrier as cleared by the coor­
dinator and which entitles that airline to the same 
slot in the next equivalent season. 
Article 3 
General rules 
1. Member States shall permit air carriers with a valid 
route licence to freely schedule and operate their services 
to and from Community airports which are not coor­
dinated in accordance with Article 4. 
2. Member States may require air carriers to 
communicate their flight programs to national authorities 
in accordance with national rules and regulations. 
Article 4 
Conditions for airport coordination 
1. A Member State responsible for a congested airport 
shall consider designating it as coordinated for the 
periods that congestion problems occur. 
2. When the airport congestion results in operational 
delays of more than one hour on any day to the 
published operating schedules of airlines, the Member 
State responsible for that airport shall, at its own 
initiative or at the request of the Commission, designate 
that airport as coordinated. Once this designation has 
taken place, the Member State shall inform the 
Commission thereof. 
3. The decision to designate an airport as coordinated 
shall be taken by the Member State responsible for that 
airport after consultations with the air carriers using the 
airport repeatedly and/or their representative organiz-
19. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 43/5 
ations, the airport authorities and representative organiz­
ations of passengers using the airport, where such organ­
izations exist. 
4. When the decision to designate an airport as coor­
dinated is taken, a thorough capacity analysis shall be 
carried out at the airport with the purpose of deter­
mining possibilities to increase the capacity in the short 
term through infrastructure or operational changes, and 
to determine the time frame envisaged to resolve the 
problems. The analysis shall be updated periodically and 
shall be made available to interested parties. 
5. This Regulation shall not affect a Member State's 
right to regulate, without discrimination, the distribution 
of traffic between the airports within an airport system. 
Article 5 
The coordinator 
1. The Member State shall appoint an airport coor­
dinator upon the advice of the air carriers using the 
airport repeatedly and/or their representative organiz­
ations and of the airport authorities. 
2. The coordinator shall be responsible for the allo­
cation of slots at the coordinated airport(s) and shall act 
in accordance with this Regulation in a neutral, 
non-discriminatory and transparent way. 
3. The coordinator is answerable only to the Member 
State that has appointed him. 
4. The coordinator shall participate in such interna­
tional scheduling conferences of air carriers as are 
permitted by Community law. 
5. The coordinator shall at any time make available 
for review to all interested parties the following infor­
mation: 
(a) historical slots by airline, chronologically, for all air 
carriers at the airport; 
(b) requested slots (initial submissions), by air carriers 
and chronologically, for all air carriers; 
(c) all allocated slots, and outstanding slot requests, 
listed individually in chronological order, by air 
carrier, for all air carriers; 
(d) remaining available slots; 
(e) full details on the criteria being used in the allo­
cation. 6. The coordinator shall permit slots to be freely 
exchanged between air carriers or by an air carrier from 
one route, or type of service, to another. 
Article 6 
Scheduling committee 
1. When a Member State has decided to designate an 
airport as coordinated according to Article 4 (1) and (2), 
it may set up a scheduling committee that will assist, in a 
consultative capacity, the coordinator referred to in 
Article 5. Participation in this committee shall at least be 
open to the air carriers using the airport(s) repeatedly, 
the airport authorities concerned and representatives of 
the air traffic control. 
The minimum , tasks required of the scheduling 
committee shall be: 
— to consider possibilities for increasing the capacity 
determined in accordance with Article 7 of this 
Regulation, 
— to suggest improvements to traffic conditions 
prevailing at the airport in question, and 
— to monitor the use of allocated slots. 
Article 7 
Airport capacity 
At a coordinated airport the airport authority in 
cooperation with representatives of the air traffic 
control, and, where applicable, subject to the approval of 
the Member State, shall determine the airport capacity 
twice yearly after consultation with customs and immi­
gration authorities and the airlines using the airport 
and/or their representative associations following inter­
nationally established methods. The possibilities of 
accommodating the different types of aviation shall be 
examined individually. 
This information shall be provided to the airport coor­
dinator in good time before coordination takes place. 
Article 8 
Process of coordination 
1. Air carriers requesting slots at a coordinated airport 
shall submit to the airport coordinator all information 
requested by the airport coordinator. 
2. (a) Without prejudice to the application of Articles 85 
and 86 of the Treaty and of Article 9 of this 
Regulation, a slot that has been operated by an 
air carrier as cleared by the coordinator shall 
entitle that air carrier to the same slot in the equi­
valent period and days of operation of the next 
No C 43/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 19.2.91 
equivalent season. This historical precedence shall 
apply only to scheduled services and programmed 
non-scheduled services. 
(b) In a situation where all slot requests cannot be 
accommodated to the satisfaction of the air 
carriers concerned, the airport coordinator shall 
give preference to commercial air services and in 
particular scheduled services and programmed 
non-scheduled services. 
(c) The airport coordinator shall also take into 
account the additional priority rules set out in the 
Annex to this Regulation. 
3. If a requested slot cannot be accommodated the 
airport coordinator shall inform the requesting airline of 
the reasons therefor and shall indicate the nearest alter­
native slot. 
4. The airport coordinator shall, at all times, 
endeavour to accommodate ad hoc slot requests for any 
type of aviation including general aviation. To this end 
the slots available in the pool referred to in Article 9 of 
this Regulation but not yet allocated can be used as well 
as slots liberated at short notice. 
5. The Commission shall establish, after consultations 
with air carriers, airport coordinators, and airport auth­
orities, minimum requirements for the automated systems 
to be used by the airport coordinators in order to ensure 
the proper implementation of Articles 5 and 8. 
Article 9 
Slot pool 
1. At a coordinated airport a pool shall be set up 
containing newly created slots, unused slots and slots 
which have been given up by a carrier during or by the 
end of the season. 
2. Any slot not utilized more than 65 % of the 
allocated period can be withdrawn and placed in the slot 
pool referred to in paragraph 1 for reallocation, unless 
the non-utilization can be justified inter alia on the 
grounds of the grounding of an aircraft type, or the 
closure of an airport or airspace. 
3. Slots placed in the pool shall be distributed among 
applicant carriers. At least 50 % of these slots shall be 
allocated to new entrants with priority in the order set 
out in the Annex. 4. (a) When requests for slots by new entrants as 
defined in Article 2 (b) (ii) cannot be accom­
modated by the normal process or by the 
procedure referred to in paragraph 3, the Member 
State responsible for the airport shall make 
available the necessary slots. For this purpose the 
Member State shall, in the first instance, and in a 
non-discriminatory way, reclaim slots used by air 
carriers to the extent that these carriers operate 
more than 6 slots on that route on the day in 
question. Slots are reclaimed on a priority basis 
from those services which are operated with 
aircraft of less than 200 seats. 
(b) If despite the application of subparagraph (a) 
serious problems continue to exist for new 
entrants, the Member State shall convene a 
meeting of the scheduling committee. The 
purpose of the meeting shall be to examine possi­
bilities for remedying the situation. The 
Commission shall be invited to such a meeting. 
5. The new entrants referred to in paragraph 4 are 
entitled to as many slots as are needed to meet the 
existing services of the other air carrier(s) operating on 
that route to a maximum of 6 slots on any given day. 
6. The slots referred to in paragraph 4 cannot be 
freely transferred by the air carrier receiving them from 
one route or type of service to another for a period of 2 
years. 
7. A new entrant which, through the normal 
procedures, does not obtain slots within 3 hours before 
or after the time requested shall retain the new entrant 
status. 
8. When the slots made available in accordance with 
paragraphs 2 and 4, are not used or are given up within 
a period of 2 years, they shall be returned to their 
original holder. Where this rule cannot be applied or 
where the original holder does not wish to use the slot, it 
shall be placed in the slot pool. 
9. At the request of any Member State or on its own 
initiative, the Commission shall examine the application 
of this Article in any particular case and within two 
months decide whether it is correctly applied. The 
Commission shall communicate its decision to the 
Council and to the Member States. 
10. Any Member State may refer the Commission's 
decision to the Council within a time limit of one month. 
The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a 
different decision within a period of one month. 
19. 2.91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 43/7 
Article 10 
Special circumstances 
1. A Member State responsible for a congested airport 
shall ensure the allocation of slots to a Community air 
carrier that cannot reciprocate a new service or an 
increase of frequencies on an existing service by another 
Community air carrier owing to congestion problems at 
that airport. This obligation shall be subject to the 
condition that the first carrier can demonstrate that it 
has not been able to get the necessary slots within 3 
hours before or after the time requested during the 
previous season by the normal slot allocation procedure 
or by the procedure referred to in Article 9. 
2. The Community air carrier refered to in paragraph 
1 is entitled to as many slots as is needed in order to 
reciprocate the new service or the increase of frequencies 
on the existing service of the other Community air 
carrier. 
3. The slots refered to in paragraph 2 cannot be freely 
transferred by the air carrier receiving them from one 
route or type of service to another for a period of 2 
years. 
4. Member States shall make the necessary transparent 
and non-discriminatory arrangements to ensure that the 
slots required to meet the provisions of this Article shall 
be available for allocation to the relevant airlines at the 
beginning of the scheduling period, if need be by limiting 
the number of slots of the air carrier intending to 
introduce a new service or to increase frequencies on an 
existing service. 
5. Whenever the slots made available in accordance 
with paragraph 4 are not used or whenever they are 
given up within a period of 2 years, they shall be 
returned to their original holder. Where this rule cannot 
be applied or where the original holder does not wish to 
use the slot, it shall be placed in the slot pool referred to 
in Article 9. 
6. At the request of any Member State or on its own 
initiative, the Commission shall examine the application 
of paragraphs 2 and 4 in any particular case and within 
two months decide whether these paragraphs are 
correctly applied. The Commission shall communicate its 
decision to the Council and to the Member States. 
7. Any Member State may refer the Commission's 
decision to the Council within a time limit of one month. 
The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a 
different decision within a period of one month. 
Article 11 
Relations with third countries 
1. The Member States shall inform the Commission of 
any specific difficulties encountered, in law or in fact, by Community air carriers in obtaining slots at congested 
airports in third countries. 
2. Whenever it appears to the Commission, either on 
the basis of information received in accordance with 
paragraph 1 or on the basis of other information, that a 
third country, with respect to the allocation of slots at 
congested airports, 
(a) does not grant Community air carriers treatment 
comparable to that granted by Member States to air 
carriers from that country; or 
(b) does not grant Community air carriers de facto 
national treatment; or 
(c) grants air carriers from other third countries more 
favourable treatment than Community air carriers, 
the Commission may initiate negotiations in order to 
remedy the situation. 
3. At the request of any Member State or on its own 
initiative, the Commission can decide to suspend wholly 
or partially the obligations of an airport coordinator and 
a Member State under Articles 8 and 9 in respect of an 
air carrier of a third country under the conditions 
referred to in paragraph 2. The Commission shall 
communicate its decision to the Council and to the 
Member States. 
4. Any Member State may refer the Commission's 
decision to the Council within a time limit of one month. 
The Council, acting by qualified majority, may take a 
different decision within a period of one month. 
Article 12 
General provisions 
1. The Commission shall submit a report to the 
Council on the operation of this Regulation within two 
years after its entry into force. 
2. Member States and the Commission shall cooperate 
in the application of this Regulation, particularly as 
No C 43/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 19.2.91 
regard the collection of the information for the report Article 14 
mentioned in paragraph 1. 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 30th day 
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of 
Article 13 ^e ^uroPean Communities. 
The Council shall review the operation of this Regu­
lation before 1 July 1994 on the basis of the report This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
furnished by the Commission. directly applicable in all Member States. 
ANNEX 
Additional Priorities for Allocation of Airport Slots 
1. The prime objective behind the allocation of specific slots should be to ensure that the economic 
penalties arising from any necessary rescheduling shall be kept to a minimum in terms of the airlines as 
a whole. 
2. When two or more airlines compete for the same slot, the schedule effective for a longer period of 
operation in the same season shall have priority. 
3. In the short term, schedule dislocation caused by disturbances beyond airline control should be dealt 
with as if they were ad hoc variations. Long-term emergencies should normally invoke a rescheduling 
process. The future treatment of slots cleared, but not operated because of the emergency, should be 
discussed and agreed in advance between the coordinator and the airline. 
4. To improve flexibility for periods at the beginning and end of scheduling seasons in which there are 
differences in the dates for introduction and withdrawal of daylight saving time: 
(a) schedules for periods of up to 7 days should not be adjusted; 
(b) schedules for periods of 8 to 35 days should be given a higher priority than requests for new slots. 
5. Any circumstances not covered by paragraph 3 should require negotiation for a new slot. However, if 
the schedule change results from: 
(a) larger aircraft; 
(b) adjustments to block times in order to make them more realistic; 
(c) the need of an airline to establish a year-round operation, 
it should have priority over totally new demands for the same slot unless the new demands are requested 
by new entrants. 
6. Those situations which cannot be resolved by application of the criteria in the Regulation itself and 
those set out above, should be considered further in the context of the following factors: 
(a) Size and type of market — consideration should be given to the need for a mixture of long-haul 
and short-haul operations at major airports in order to satisfy public requirements. 
Domestic/regional/long-haul markets are part of a total pattern and the size and type of markets 
must, therefore, be considered. 
(b) Competition — consideration should always be given to attempting to ensure that due account is 
taken of competitive requirements in the allocation of available slots. 
(c) Curfews — in the event of a curfew at one airport creating a slot problem elsewhere, priority should 
be given to the airline whose schedule in constrained by the curfew. 
19. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 43/9 
(d) Requirements of the travelling public and other users — consideration should always be given to 
minimizing public inconvenience (e.g. avoiding excessive airport transit time, losing connections etc.) 
(e) Frequency of operation — higher frequency should not, per se, imply higher priority — the principle 
of optimizing economic benefit should be the main consideration. 
(f) Flexibility — to achieve optimum utilization of the available capacity. Coordinators should apply a 
certain degree of flexibility when allocating slots. Airlines do not always operate exactly to the 
timings published in schedules. Weather, winds, variations in flight times, ATC or technical 
problems are some of the reasons for such deviations. Coordinators should take account of this by. 
(i) applying runway restrictions in time intervals of at least 10 minutes; 
(ii) measuring hourly movement rates at not less than 30 minutes intervals (e.g. 12.00 — 12.59 and 
12.30 — 13.29); 
(iii) using overbooking profiles based on past experience.