CELEX: 51990PC0576
Language: en
Date: 1991-01-30
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON COMMON RULES FOR THE ALLOCATION OF SLOTS AT COMMUNITY AIRPORTS

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;
                                                                                                  J
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
 Having regard      to   the  opinion   of   the  European
 Parliament,                                                     Whereas it is Community policy to lower barriers to
                                                                  competition and to encourage entrance into the market,
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 as provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No
 Social Committee,                                               2343/90 (') and whereas these objectives require strong
                                                                 support for carriers who intend to start operations on
                                                                 intra-Community routes with limited competition;
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              Whereas it is necessary to require Member States or their
 increasing number of congested airports in the                  appointees to ensure that a minimum number of slots are
 Community;                                                      available for operations on intra-Community routes even
                                                                 where an aiport is held to be congested;
Whereas the allocation of slots at congested airports
should be based on neutral, transparent                 and
non-discriminatory rules;
                                                                 Whereas any withdrawal of grandfather rights should
Whereas the requirement of neutrality is best guaranteed         respect the principle of proportionality and should
when the decision to coordinate an airport is taken by           therefore be limited to the number of slots necessary to
the Member State responsible for that airport on the             meet the needs of new entrants at the airport in question,
basis of objective criteria;                                     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
Whereas the Member State responsible for the coor-               unnecessary disturbances of existing arrangements;
dinated airport should appoint a coordinator whose
neutrality should be beyond any doubt;
Whereas transparency of information is an essential              Whereas it is also necessary to avoid situations whereby
element for ensuring an objective procedure for slot allo-       one Community air carrier can introduce a service or
cation;                                                          increase frequency on an existing service and other
                                                                 Community air carriers cannot reciprocate these
Whereas the principles governing the present system of           initiatives owing to a lack of available slots; whereas this
slot allocations could be the basis of the present Regu-         could mean that the benefits of liberalization are
lation provided that this system evolves in harmony with         unevenly spread and competition is impaired;
the evolution of the new transport developments in the
Community;                                                       (')OJ No L 217, 11. 8. 1990, p. 8.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 43/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  19.2.91
Whereas in the cases referred to in the eleventh and              (d) 'scheduling period' means either the summer or
twelfth recitals, air carriers which have been granted new             winter season as used in the schedules of air carriers;
slots must use these slots for the purpose for which they
were requested over a period of time considered to be
sufficient;                                                       (e) 'Community air carrier' means the air carriers
                                                                       defined in Article 2 (e) of Regulation (EEC) No
                                                                       2343/90;
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                  (f) 'coordinated airport' means an airport where, in
Community air carriers;                                                order to land or take off, it is necessary for an air
                                                                       carrier to have a slot allocated by an airport coor-
                                                                       dinator;
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,          (g) 'airport system' means two or more airports grouped
                                                                       together as defined in Article 2 (k) of Regulation
                                                                       (EEC) No 2343/90;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                  (h) 'historical precedence' means a slot that has been
                                                                       operated by an air carrier as cleared by the coor-
                            Article 1                                  dinator and which entitles that airline to the same
                                                                       slot in the next equivalent season.
                   Scope of the Regulation
This Regulation shall apply to the allocation of slots at
Community airports.                                                                          Article 3
                                                                                          General rules
                            Article 2
                                                                  1.     Member States shall permit air carriers with a valid
                          Definitions                            route licence to freely schedule and operate their services
                                                                 to and from Community airports which are not coor-
For the purpose of this Regulation:                              dinated in accordance with Article 4.
(a) 'slot' means the scheduled time of arrival or                2.      Member States may require air carriers to
     departure available or allocated to an aircraft             communicate their flight programs to national authorities
     movement on a specific date at an airport during            in accordance with national rules and regulations.
     periods which are coordinated;
(b) 'new entrant' means an air carrier                                                       Article 4
                                                                               Conditions for airport coordination
     — not holding more than three slots on any day at
         a coordinated airport and requesting further             1.     A Member State responsible for a congested airport
         slots for services on that day,                          shall consider designating it as coordinated for the
                                                                  periods that congestion problems occur.
          or
                                                                  2.     When the airport congestion results in operational
     — not holding more than 30 % of slots held by all            delays of more than one hour on any day to the
          air carriers on a day at a coordinated airport or       published operating schedules of airlines, the Member
          at another airport in the same airport system and       State responsible for that airport shall, at its own
          requesting further slots at that airport during         initiative or at the request of the Commission, designate
         that day to commence services falling within the         that airport as coordinated. Once this designation has
          scope of Regulation (EEC) No 2343/90 on a               taken place, the Member State shall inform the
          route on which at most two other air carriers are       Commission thereof.
          exercising third or fourth freedom traffic rights
         between the airports concerned during that day;
                                                                  3.     The decision to designate an airport as coordinated
(c) 'congested airport' means an airport where the                shall be taken by the Member State responsible for that
     capacity for more than one hour on any day does              airport after consultations with the air carriers using the
     not meet the demand or forecast demand;                      airport repeatedly and/or their representative organiz-
 ---pagebreak---  19. 2. 91                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 43/5
ations, the airport authorities and representative organiz-        6.   The coordinator shall permit slots to be freely
ations of passengers using the airport, where such organ-          exchanged between air carriers or by an air carrier from
izations exist.                                                    one route, or type of service, to another.
4.     When the decision to designate an airport as coor-                                    Article 6
dinated is taken, a thorough capacity analysis shall be
carried out at the airport with the purpose of deter-                                 Scheduling committee
mining possibilities to increase the capacity in the short         1.   When a Member State has decided to designate an
term through infrastructure or operational changes, and           airport as coordinated according to Article 4 (1) and (2),
to determine the time frame envisaged to resolve the              it may set up a scheduling committee that will assist, in a
problems. The analysis shall be updated periodically and          consultative capacity, the coordinator referred to in
shall be made available to interested parties.                    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
5.     This Regulation shall not affect a Member State's          the air traffic control.
right to regulate, without discrimination, the distribution
of traffic between the airports within an airport system.
                                                                  The minimum , tasks          required   of  the    scheduling
                                                                  committee shall be:
                            Article 5
                                                                  — to consider possibilities for increasing the capacity
                        The coordinator
                                                                      determined in accordance with Article 7 of this
1.     The Member State shall appoint an airport coor-                Regulation,
dinator upon the advice of the air carriers using the
airport repeatedly and/or their representative organiz-           — to suggest improvements to traffic               conditions
ations and of the airport authorities.                                prevailing at the airport in question, and
2.     The coordinator shall be responsible for the allo-         — to monitor the use of allocated slots.
cation of slots at the coordinated airport(s) and shall act
in accordance with this Regulation in a neutral,
non-discriminatory and transparent way.                                                     Article 7
                                                                                        Airport capacity
3.     The coordinator is answerable only to the Member           At a coordinated airport the airport authority in
State that has appointed him.                                     cooperation with representatives of the air traffic
                                                                  control, and, where applicable, subject to the approval of
                                                                  the Member State, shall determine the airport capacity
4.     The coordinator shall participate in such interna-         twice yearly after consultation with customs and immi-
tional scheduling conferences of air carriers as are              gration authorities and the airlines using the airport
permitted by Community law.                                       and/or their representative associations following inter-
                                                                  nationally established methods. The possibilities of
                                                                  accommodating the different types of aviation shall be
5.     The coordinator shall at any time make available           examined individually.
for review to all interested parties the following infor-
mation:
                                                                  This information shall be provided to the airport coor-
                                                                  dinator in good time before coordination takes place.
(a) historical slots by airline, chronologically, for all air
     carriers at the airport;
                                                                                            Article 8
(b) requested slots (initial submissions), by air carriers                          Process of coordination
     and chronologically, for all air carriers;
                                                                  1.    Air carriers requesting slots at a coordinated airport
                                                                  shall submit to the airport coordinator all information
(c) all allocated slots, and outstanding slot requests,           requested by the airport coordinator.
     listed individually in chronological order, by air
     carrier, for all air carriers;
                                                                  2. (a) Without prejudice to the application of Articles 85
                                                                         and 86 of the Treaty and of Article 9 of this
(d) remaining available slots;
                                                                         Regulation, a slot that has been operated by an
                                                                         air carrier as cleared by the coordinator shall
(e) full details on the criteria being used in the allo-                 entitle that air carrier to the same slot in the equi-
     cation.                                                             valent period and days of operation of the next
 ---pagebreak---  No C 43/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  19.2.91
         equivalent season. This historical precedence shall      4. (a) When requests for slots by new entrants as
         apply only to scheduled services and programmed                  defined in Article 2 (b) (ii) cannot be accom-
         non-scheduled services.                                          modated by the normal process or by the
                                                                          procedure referred to in paragraph 3, the Member
                                                                          State responsible for the airport shall make
    (b) In a situation where all slot requests cannot be                  available the necessary slots. For this purpose the
         accommodated to the satisfaction of the air                      Member State shall, in the first instance, and in a
         carriers concerned, the airport coordinator shall                non-discriminatory way, reclaim slots used by air
         give preference to commercial air services and in                carriers to the extent that these carriers operate
         particular scheduled services and programmed                     more than 6 slots on that route on the day in
         non-scheduled services.                                          question. Slots are reclaimed on a priority basis
                                                                          from those services which are operated with
                                                                          aircraft of less than 200 seats.
    (c) The airport coordinator shall also take into
         account the additional priority rules set out in the
         Annex to this Regulation.                                   (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
 3.    If a requested slot cannot be accommodated the                     purpose of the meeting shall be to examine possi-
airport coordinator shall inform the requesting airline of                bilities for remedying the situation. The
the reasons therefor and shall indicate the nearest alter-                Commission shall be invited to such a meeting.
native slot.
                                                                 5.     The new entrants referred to in paragraph 4 are
4.    The airport coordinator shall, at all times,               entitled to as many slots as are needed to meet the
endeavour to accommodate ad hoc slot requests for any            existing services of the other air carrier(s) operating on
type of aviation including general aviation. To this end         that route to a maximum of 6 slots on any given day.
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.                              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
5.    The Commission shall establish, after consultations        years.
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        7.     A new entrant which, through the normal
the proper implementation of Articles 5 and 8.                   procedures, does not obtain slots within 3 hours before
                                                                 or after the time requested shall retain the new entrant
                                                                 status.
                          Article 9
                          Slot pool                              8.     When the slots made available in accordance with
                                                                 paragraphs 2 and 4, are not used or are given up within
1.    At a coordinated airport a pool shall be set up            a period of 2 years, they shall be returned to their
containing newly created slots, unused slots and slots           original holder. Where this rule cannot be applied or
which have been given up by a carrier during or by the           where the original holder does not wish to use the slot, it
end of the season.                                               shall be placed in the slot pool.
2.    Any slot not utilized more than 65 % of the                9.     At the request of any Member State or on its own
allocated period can be withdrawn and placed in the slot         initiative, the Commission shall examine the application
pool referred to in paragraph 1 for reallocation, unless         of this Article in any particular case and within two
the non-utilization can be justified inter alia on the           months decide whether it is correctly applied. The
grounds of the grounding of an aircraft type, or the             Commission shall communicate its decision to the
closure of an airport or airspace.                               Council and to the Member States.
3.    Slots placed in the pool shall be distributed among        10.     Any Member State may refer the Commission's
applicant carriers. At least 50 % of these slots shall be        decision to the Council within a time limit of one month.
allocated to new entrants with priority in the order set         The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
out in the Annex.                                                different decision within a period of one month.
 ---pagebreak---   19. 2.91                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 43/7
                           Article 10                               Community air carriers in obtaining slots at congested
                                                                    airports in third countries.
                     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                2.    Whenever it appears to the Commission, either on
 increase of frequencies on an existing service by another         the basis of information received in accordance with
 Community air carrier owing to congestion problems at             paragraph 1 or on the basis of other information, that a
 that airport. This obligation shall be subject to the             third country, with respect to the allocation of slots at
 condition that the first carrier can demonstrate that it          congested airports,
 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.                     (a) does not grant Community air carriers treatment
                                                                        comparable to that granted by Member States to air
                                                                        carriers from that country; or
 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                (b) does not grant Community air carriers de facto
 carrier.                                                               national treatment; or
 3.    The slots refered to in paragraph 2 cannot be freely
transferred by the air carrier receiving them from one
                                                                   (c) grants air carriers from other third countries more
route or type of service to another for a period of 2
                                                                        favourable treatment than Community air carriers,
years.
4.     Member States shall make the necessary transparent
and non-discriminatory arrangements to ensure that the             the Commission may initiate negotiations in order to
slots required to meet the provisions of this Article shall        remedy the situation.
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           3.    At the request of any Member State or on its own
existing service.                                                 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
5.     Whenever the slots made available in accordance
                                                                  air carrier of a third country under the conditions
with paragraph 4 are not used or whenever they are
                                                                  referred to in paragraph 2. The Commission shall
given up within a period of 2 years, they shall be                communicate its decision to the Council and to the
returned to their original holder. Where this rule cannot         Member States.
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.
                                                                  4.     Any Member State may refer the Commission's
6.     At the request of any Member State or on its own           decision to the Council within a time limit of one month.
initiative, the Commission shall examine the application          The Council, acting by qualified majority, may take a
of paragraphs 2 and 4 in any particular case and within           different decision within a period of one month.
two months decide whether these paragraphs are
correctly applied. The Commission shall communicate its
decision to the Council and to the Member States.
                                                                                            Article 12
7.     Any Member State may refer the Commission's
decision to the Council within a time limit of one month.                              General provisions
The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
different decision within a period of one month.                  1.     The Commission shall submit a report to the
                                                                  Council on the operation of this Regulation within two
                                                                  years after its entry into force.
                          Article 11
               Relations with third countries
1.    The Member States shall inform the Commission of            2.     Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
any specific difficulties encountered, in law or in fact, by      in the application of this Regulation, particularly as
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 43/8                                        Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                           19.2.91
r e g a r d the collection of the information for the r e p o r t                                                      Article 14
m e n t i o n e d in p a r a g r a p h 1.
                                                                                    T h i s R e g u l a t i o n shall enter into force o n the 30th d a y
                                                                                     following t h a t of its publication in the Official Journal of
                                      Article 13                                     ^e ^uroPean               Communities.
T h e Council shall review the operation of this R e g u -
lation before 1 July 1994 on the basis of the r e p o r t                           T h i s R e g u l a t i o n shall be binding in its entirety    and
furnished by the Commission.                                                         directly applicable in all M e m b e r 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.
 ---pagebreak--- 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.