The EU appeared to confirm on Tuesday it would relax airport slot rules, which have led to the phenomenon of empty “ghost flights”.
New European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the organisation will imminently introduce temporary legislation, but didn’t go into details of what destinations it would cover, or how long it would last.
Current laws mean airlines must operate 80 per cent of their allocated slots or face losing the right to it for the next season. However, with coronavirus damaging demand, airlines are flying low capacity aircraft to avoid losing their berth in future.
Boarding pretty much complete… my flight to Italy.. announcement from flight attendant: “it’s a light flight to Rome tonight..” ? pic.twitter.com/9saP08Um4V
— Seth Doane (@sethdoane) March 8, 2020
The EU had previously relaxed the rules on flights to China and Hong Kong, but not other destinations.
President von der Leyen said, “The Commission will put forward, very rapidly, legislation. 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.”
A few days earlier, Virgin Atlantic became one of the first airlines to publicly admit to the practice. Chief executive Shai Weiss said in a statement, “Passenger demand for air travel has dramatically fallen due to COVID-19 and in some instances, we are being forced to fly almost empty planes or lose our valuable slots.”
And on Monday, the UK, still operating under EU rules until the end of the year, formally asked the block to relax the rules.
The UK’s Transport Minister, Grant Shapps, said so-called ghosts flights were “both problematic for the airlines and needlessly damaging to our environment”.
He added, “I am deeply concerned that the 80:20 ‘use it or lost it’ rule under Regulation 95/93 is compounding the risk of airlines flying empty or near empty aircraft primarily to avoid losing their historic rights.
“Such behaviour would be entirely out of step with both the United Kingdom and European Union’s climate commitments.
“I know the European Commission has already recommended, and the United Kingdom coordinator has granted, alleviation from the 80:20 rule for flights to and from mainland China and Hong Kong, a step which has been welcomed across the industry.
“Given the international nature of COVID-19, I believe that this alleviation should now be widened.”
The International Air Transport Association was the first body to call for the changes worldwide.
Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of IATA, said, “Traffic has collapsed on key Asian routes and this is rippling throughout the air transport network globally, even between countries without major outbreaks of COVID-19.
“We are calling for regulators worldwide to help the industry plan for today’s emergency, and the future recovery of the network, by suspending the slot use rules on a temporary basis.”
