Landing slot
A landing slot, takeoff slot, or airport slot is a permission granted by the owner of an airport designated as Level 3 (Coordinated Airport), which allows the grantee to schedule a landing or departure at that airport during a specific time period.[1] Slots may be administered by the operator of the airport or by a government aviation regulator such as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.[2]
Landing slots are allocated in accordance with guidelines set down by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Worldwide Airport Slots Group. All airports worldwide are categorized as either Level 1 (Non-Coordinated Airport), Level 2 (Schedules Facilitated Airport), or Level 3 (Coordinated Airport). At Level 2 airports, the principles governing slot allocation are less stringent; airlines periodically submit proposed schedules to the administrating authority, rather than historic performance. Participation is not mandatory, but reduces congestion and non-participants are penalized if the airport must later be designated level 3.[2]
As of the summer 2022 scheduled season, a total of 156 airports in the world are Level 2 airports, and 195 are Level 3 airports.[3]
If an airline does not use an allocation of slots (typically 80% usage over six months), it can lose the rights. Airlines may operate ghost or empty flights to preserve slot allocations.[4] To avoid pollution and financial losses caused by an excessive number of empty flights, these rules have occasionally been waived during periods of temporary but widespread travel disruption, including after the September 11, 2001 attacks and during the SARS epidemic, the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Maintenance of the rules forces airlines to schedule extra unnecessary flights to keep their slots, wasting fuel; a 2021 expiration of a waiver in the United States will cause 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per day.[6]
Allocated landing slots may have a commercial value and can be traded between airlines. Continental Airlines paid US$209 million for four pairs of landing slots from GB Airways at London Heathrow Airport, $52.3m each.[7] The highest price paid for a pair of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport was $75m, paid by Oman Air to Air France–KLM for a prized early morning arrival, reported in February 2016. A year before, American Airlines paid $60m to Scandinavian Airlines.[8] As supply is limited, slot trading became the main solution to enter Heathrow and transfers grew from 42 in 2000 to 526 in 2012 and over 10 years the average priced slot was equivalent to £4 per passenger.[9]
Year | Buyer | Seller | daily slot pairs | transaction (£M) | slot value (£M) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | BA | Air UK | 4 | 15.6 | 3.9 |
2002 | BA | BA Connect | 5 | 13 | 2.6 |
2002 | BA | SN Brussels | 7 | 27.5 | 3.9 |
2003 | BA | SWISS | 8 | 22.5 | 2.8 |
2003 | BA | United | 2 | 12 | 6 |
2004 | Virgin | Flybe | 4 | 20 | 5 |
2004 | Qantas | Flybe | 2 | 20 | 10 |
2006 | BA | BWIA | 1 | 5 | 5 |
2007 | BA | Malev | 2 | 7 | 3.5 |
2007 | BA | BA | 7.3 | 30 | 4.1 |
2007 | Virgin | Air Jamaica | 1 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
2007 | BMI | 77.7 | 770 | 9.9 | |
2007 | unknown | Alitalia | 3 | 67 | 22.3 |
2008 | Continental | GB Airways/Alitalia/Air France | 4 | 104.5 | 26.1 |
2013 | Delta | unknown | 2 | 30.8 | 15.4 |
2013 | Etihad | Jet | 3 | 46.2 | 15.4 |
Level 3 coordinated airports[]
Australia[]
- Adelaide Airport
- Brisbane Airport
- Cairns Airport
- Darwin International Airport
- Gold Coast Airport
- Melbourne Airport
- Perth Airport
- Sydney Airport
Austria[]
- Innsbruck Airport (winter season only)
- Vienna International Airport
Belgium[]
Brazil[]
- Belo Horizonte/Pampulha – Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport
- São Paulo-Congonhas Airport
- São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport
- Santos Dumont Airport
Cambodia[]
Canada[]
Cape Verde[]
- Amílcar Cabral International Airport
- Nelson Mandela International Airport
- Aristides Pereira International Airport
Colombia[]
Cuba[]
China[]
- Beijing Capital International Airport
- Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
- Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport
- Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport
- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
- Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport
- Kunming Changshui International Airport
- Shanghai Pudong International Airport
- Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport
- Tianjin Binhai International Airport
- Xi'an Xianyang International Airport
Czech Republic[]
Denmark[]
Finland[]
- Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
France[]
- Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport
- Paris Orly Airport
- Nice Airport
Germany[]
- Berlin Brandenburg Airport
- Berlin Schönefeld Airport
- Düsseldorf Airport
- Frankfurt Airport
- Hamburg Airport
- Munich Airport
- Stuttgart Airport
Ghana[]
Greece[]
- Chania Airport (summer season only)
- Chios Airport (summer season only)
- Corfu Airport (summer season only)
- Heraklion Airport (summer season only)
- Kalamata Airport (summer season only)
- Karpathos Island National Airport (summer season only)
- Kavala Airport (summer season only)
- Kephalonia International Airport (summer season only)
- Kithira Airport (summer season only)
- Kos Airport (summer season only)
- Mykonos Airport (summer season only)
- Mytilene Airport (summer season only)
- Patras Airport (summer season only)
- Preveza Airport (summer season only)
- Rhodes Airport (summer season only)
- Samos Airport (summer season only)
- Sitia Public Airport (summer season only)
- Skiathos Airport (summer season only)
- Thessaloniki International Airport
- Thira Airport (summer season only)
- Volos Airport (summer season only)
- Zakynthos International Airport (summer season only)
Greenland[]
Hong Kong[]
Iceland[]
- Keflavik International Airport
India[]
- Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport - Mumbai
- Indira Gandhi International Airport - Delhi
- Chennai International Airport - Chennai
- Rajiv Gandhi International Airport - Hyderabad
- Kempegowda International Airport - Bangalore
Indonesia[]
- Ngurah Rai International Airport - Denpasar
- Soekarno-Hatta International Airport - Jakarta
Ireland[]
Israel[]
- Tel Aviv International Airport
Italy[]
- Cagliari Airport
- Catania Airport
- Florence Airport
- Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport
- Lampedusa Airport (summer season only)
- Linate Airport - Milan
- Malpensa Airport - Milan
- Orio al Serio Airport - Milan
- Naples International Airport
- Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (summer season only)
- Palermo International Airport
- Pantelleria Airport (summer season only)
- Ciampino Airport - Rome
- Fiumicino Airport - Rome
- Treviso Airport
- Turin Airport
- Venice Marco Polo Airport
Japan[]
Malaysia[]
Mauritius[]
Mexico[]
Morocco[]
Netherlands[]
New Zealand[]
- Auckland International Airport
- Christchurch International Airport
- Wellington International Airport
Norway[]
- Oslo Airport
- Bergen Airport
- Stavanger Airport
- Trondheim Airport
Pakistan[]
- Benazir Bhutto International Airport
- Jinnah International Airport
- Allama Iqbal International Airport
- Bacha Khan International Airport
Philippines[]
Poland[]
Portugal[]
- Faro Airport (summer season only)
- Funchal Airport
- Lisbon Airport
- Porto Airport
Russia[]
- Sheremetyevo Airport - Moscow
- Vnukovo International Airport - Moscow
Saudi Arabia[]
Singapore[]
- Singapore Changi Airport
South Africa[]
- Cape Town International Airport
- King Shaka International Airport - Durban
- OR Tambo International Airport - Johannesburg
South Korea[]
- Jeju International Airport
- Seoul Gimpo International Airport
- Seoul Incheon International Airport
Spain[]
- Alicante Airport
- Barcelona Airport
- Bilbao Airport
- Fuerteventura Airport
- Gran Canaria Airport
- Ibiza Airport (summer season only)
- Lanzarote Airport
- Madrid Barajas Airport
- Málaga Airport
- Menorca Airport (summer season only)
- Palma de Mallorca Airport
- Tenerife South Airport
- Valencia Airport
Sri Lanka[]
Sweden[]
- Göteborg Landvetter Airport
- Stockholm Arlanda Airport
- Stockholm-Bromma Airport
Switzerland[]
- Geneva International Airport
- Zurich Airport
Republic of China|Taiwan[]
- Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Thailand[]
- Chiang Mai International Airport
- Suvarnabhumi Airport - Bangkok
- Don Mueang International Airport - Bangkok
- Phuket International Airport
Tunisia[]
Turkey[]
- Antalya Airport - Antalya (summer season only)
- Istanbul Atatürk Airport
- Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Ukraine[]
United Arab Emirates[]
United Kingdom[]
- Birmingham Airport
- Bristol Airport
- London City Airport
- London Gatwick Airport
- London Heathrow Airport
- London Luton Airport
- London Stansted Airport
- Manchester Airport
United States[]
- John F. Kennedy International Airport - New York City
- LaGuardia Airport - New York City (not on IATA list, but slot controlled)[11]
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport - Washington, D.C. (not on IATA list, but slot controlled)[11]
Vietnam[]
References[]
- ^ "Worldwide Slot Guidelines, 9th Edition English Version" (PDF). IATA. 1 January 2019. p. 14.
- ^ a b Slot Administration - U.S. Level 2 Airports
- ^ a b "List of all Level 2 and Level 3 airports". iata.org. 21 September 2021.
- ^ Green anger at 'ghost flights'
- ^ Paul Sillers (12 March 2020). "Ghost flights: Why our skies are full of empty planes".
- ^ Yanofsky, Nicolás Rivero, Clarisa Diaz, David. "US airlines are planning to unnecessarily burn 20,000 tons of CO2 per day because of FAA rules". Quartz. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ "Continental pays Heathrow record". Financial Times. March 3, 2008.
- ^ "Oman breaks Heathrow record with deal for slots". The Sunday Times. 14 February 2016. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016.
- ^ "Heathrow Airport: An introduction to Secondary Slot Trading" (PDF). Airport Coordination Limited. 30 September 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "Heathrow Airport's slot machine: hitting the jackpot again?". CAPA centre for aviation. 8 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Airport Reservation Office". Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
- Civil aviation