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EC propose amendment to Regulation 95/93

EC propose amendment to Regulation 95/93

Updated 13 March: On 13  March, following intense pressure from the airline and airline association community, a draft regulation that would grant an exemption for airlines from the 80/20 slot rule was put forward by the Commission for a fast-track approval by the Council and the Parliament, which is expected to occur within the next week.

As stated by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission: "We want to make it easier for airlines to keep their airport slot even if they do not operate flights in those slots because of the declining traffic. This temporary measure helps our industry but it also helps our environment. It will relieve the pressure on aviation industry and in particular on smaller airline companies."

The key points of the regulation are proposing to amend Article 10 of the Slot Regulation (EEC) No 95/93:

  • co-ordinators shall consider slots allocated for the period from 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2020 as having been operated by the air carrier to which they had initially been allocated;
  • co-ordinators shall consider slots allocated for the period from 23 January 2020 until 29 February 2020 as having been operated by the air carrier to which they had initially been allocated, in so far as it concerns air services between airports in the European Union and airports either in the People’s Republic of China or in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Article 10a also empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts if the crisis linked to the outbreak of COVID-19 is not resolved and continues to have a negative impact on air transport, including on the slot grandfathering rights.

ERA, along with A4E have asked Ministers of Transport to consider making this proposal valid until the end of October (i.e. the end of the summer 2020 IATA scheduling season) following a joint ERA / A4E Open letter to Transport Ministers, and we wait for the outcomes following a high-level extraordinary meeting to be held on 18 March.

Click here to download the letter to Transport Ministers and the text of the draft regulation.