The recent demise of carriers Monarch, Air Berlin and NIKI have pushed the issue of what happens to their airports slots on to the agenda of regulators in Europe. Slots coordination is a highly complex issue as Alexandre de Juniac commented in a recent blog post.
IATA plays a key role in facilitating the network of airlines and slot coordinators. One of th principle ways we do that is the biannual Worldwide Slot Conference. From 7 - 10 November 2017 the 141st Slot Conference was held in Madrid-Spain where IATA regional office for Europe is located.
The Conference was a huge success, and not just fro the record number of over 1,250 attendees. For some participants including a number of delegations from the Latin American region, it was their first Slot Conference. Their presence emphasized the increasing importance of slot coordination, particularly as airports in that region become more and more congested.
Before the Slot Conference kicked off, more than 80 airport, airline and coordinator members met at four task-force meetings for the WSG Strategic Review, a work program well underway and designed to enhance the slot process of the future.
Lara Maughan, IATA Head of Worldwide Slots opened the conference. According to her, "this event is against the backdrop of increasing congestion - more Level 3 slot coordinated airports than ever before are represented at this event. That is not good news - it means airport capacity is more congested and airlines are facing additional constraints when finalizing their schedules for next summer. It also highlights the importance of bringing everyone together to ensure the schedules at these airports can be planned optimally and accurately to meet the passenger's needs. An airline often has to consider the slot it needs on each end of the route when planning, so it is essential all these airports are represented by their slot coordinator here at the Slot Conference. This allows for quick decisions and changed to next summer's slots at both airports".
In his opening remark, Rafael Schvartzman, IATA Regional Vice President for Europe added that "allocating slots is a key part of the aviation ecosystem worldwide, and I am proud of the role that IATA has played and continues to play in making the system work. Airlines slot managers, you should be thanked for making this process an essential tool that serves not just your own planning, but benefits the millions of customers you serve worldwide.
The airline delegates from various locations around the world started the process of meeting airport slot coordinators to optimize the airport slots they had been allocated for summer 2018. The entire slot coordination process is defined in the Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG), and IATA plays a key role in ensuring that it is implemented in a fair, neutral and transparent manner.
The conference took place over four days, it wasn't just all work as our teams ensured participants would enjoy some of the great features that Madrid offers its visitors by organizing a guided visit to Prado museum - Spain's most iconic and most visited museum - where they also had a taste of the wonderful Spanish gastronomy.
Turkish Airlines team at 141st Slot Conference 7-10 Nov 2017, Madrid-Spain
Key takeaways
Obeservers from the Peruvian delegation. Lima has been declared congested and is already in the process to be declared a Level 2 - or facilitated according to international standards.
Observers from the Mexican Delegation accompanied by Oracio Marquez from IATA Americas. Mexico City airport is declared a Level 3 and the Slot Cooridnator attended the conference to have a better understanding on how to apply the WSG as the single industry standard for slot coordination
