Transport secretary Grant Shapps has written to regulators
urging them to relax the “use it or lose it” rule around airport slot rules
while the coronavirus outbreak continues, with some airlines admitting they are
flying near-empty flights to maintain their slots.
Under current regulations, airlines must use at least 80 per
cent of their allocated airport slots in order to have the right to those same
slots in the next equivalent season.
But as many airlines around the world have reduced capacity
and cut flights to deal with a lack of demand caused by Covid-19, some have
been forced to operate “ghost planes” to use their 80 per cent allotment,
including Virgin Atlantic.
On Twitter, Shapps said this is “bad news for the
environment, airlines and passengers”, posting a letter he has written to
Edmund Rose, the chief executive of Airport Coordination Limited (ACL).
In the letter, Shapps said: “My department has also been
made aware through engagement with stakeholders that, as a result of reduced
consumer demand and associated temporary commercial responses, there is a now
significant risk of airlines falling short of the ‘80/20’ rule… ACL has already
agreed to waive this rule… on flights to and from mainland China and Hong Kong,
in line with the European Commission’s position, in turn based on a health risk
assessment by the WHO.
“I am particularly concerned that, in order to satisfy the
80/20 rule, airlines may be forced to fly aircraft at very low load factors,
even empty, in order to retain their slots. Such a scenario is not acceptable.”
His request follows similar calls from the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), which has now said it expects the Covid-19 crisis
to cost the airline industry up to US$113 billion in the worst case scenario.
The requests have also been echoed by Airlines UK, with CEO
Tim Alderslade saying: “It makes no sense whatsoever under these unique and
challenging circumstances to force airlines to fly empty aircraft, wasting
money and fuel and creating carbon emissions. We urgently need a temporary
suspension of the rule – as happened during the financial crisis – to allow
airlines to respond to demand and use their aircraft efficiently.”
ACL has now supported the European Airport Coordinators
Association’s letter to the European Commission asking for a temporary
suspension of the “use it or lose it” rule until the end of June.