Slot (aviation)
In aviation , the allocation of slots (German time slot or time window ) serves to ration scarce air traffic infrastructures. A distinction is made between airport slots and airways slots .
Airport slots
An airport slot (Engl. Airport slot ) refers to a time window during which an airline an airport for takeoff or landing of an aircraft is allowed to use. Airport slots are allocated prior to the flight schedule period.
The number of available airport slots depends on the capacity of an airport. a. depends on the type and number of runways , the type and duration of passenger handling, weather conditions, and temporal or spatial flight bans . The number of slots to be allocated is defined by so-called benchmark value systems, which are determined in advance by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) for a flight plan period on the basis of historical findings in consultation procedures with the institutions involved in Germany .
The need for the coordinated allocation of slots exists for airports at which more flight movements are required than are possible due to the capacity and which are therefore heavily used. Examples of such coordinated airports are London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle . In Germany, the airports in Berlin-Tegel , Berlin-Schönefeld , Düsseldorf , Frankfurt , Munich , Stuttgart , Hanover and Hamburg are coordinated.
Slots form a central basis for the creation of flight plans by airlines, as no flight can be carried out without the appropriate take-off and landing rights.
Airport slots are allocated by the airport coordinators, mostly organized within the framework of a state authority, for one season each (summer season 30 weeks, winter season 22 weeks). 14 slot series are required for a daily scheduled service, as one slot each is required for departure and arrival on seven days of the week. Once the slots have been allocated, the slots can be exchanged 1 to 1 between the airlines, but not sold. If an airline uses at least 80% of the respective slot series for a scheduled service, it is entitled to the same airport slot in the next equivalent flight schedule period (summer or winter season). This right is also known as " grandfather right ".
In Europe, slot allocation is regulated in EU Regulation No. 95/93, most recently amended by EU Regulation (EC) 545/2009. The IATA Worldwide Slot Guidelines are valid worldwide .
Airways slots
During operation, the available airspace and the planned airways may be rationed, or it is foreseeable that a destination airport will be overloaded. The cause of such congestion in the airspace can, for example, be bad weather. Then the centralized traffic flow control DNM ( Directorate Network Management , formerly CFMU ( Central Flow Management Unit )) of Eurocontrol in Brussels imposes so-called airways slots (also ATC slots ). Airways slots assign aircraft to a 15-minute take-off window in which the flight in question can begin. Airlines then have the option of requesting an earlier slot should one become free, or Eurocontrol can offer an earlier slot on its own, which the airlines may refuse under certain circumstances. The whole process is dynamic with the involvement of the airlines and tries to keep the delays as short as possible, if the opportunity arises. In this way, impending capacity bottlenecks are waited for on the ground of the departure airport instead of in the air, economically and ecologically. In operation, the airport slot represents the planning basis for flight movements, but having an airways slot may force you to change the planned departure time .
Footnotes
- ↑ LuftVG - Aviation Act. Retrieved August 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Level 3 airports . Airport coordination Germany GmbH . Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ↑ EU Regulation (EEC) No. 95/93 (PDF)
- ↑ https://www.iata.org/policy/slots/Pages/index.aspx