148th Slot Conference 15 – 17 June 2021 – Update
Due to the current uncertain circumstances and government restrictions that continue to disable travel, we have decided this Slot Conference will be held virtually. Given travel bans, country entry restrictions, or quarantines on arrival, a virtual event will enable the industry to come together and focus on their business at this critical time.
This virtual event will continue to provide meeting opportunities for coordinators, airlines, sponsors and exhibitors including virtual networking opportunities to bring everyone together.
The Slot Conference (SC) is a working conference. Regularly attracting over 1200 delegates, from over 230 airlines and representatives of over 85 schedules-facilitated or fully coordinated airports this twice-yearly meeting is one of IATA's largest events.
As part of the slot process, the purpose of this voluntary assembly of both IATA and non-IATA airlines worldwide is to provide a forum for the allocation of slots at fully coordinated airports (Level 3), and for the reaching of consensus on the schedule adjustments necessary to conform to airport capacity limitations (Level 2). The goal of the conference is for airlines and airports to obtain the slots that will give them the best possible schedule to offer their customers.
The conference operating procedures are published in the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG)
Testimonials
"Great venue and really appreciate all the hard work invested to make the conference successful! Thank you!"
- Head Coordinator
"Have not attended the slot conference for many years, I found great improvement, good job well done!"
- Head Airline Representative
"Proved to be the perfect platform for route development discussions with airlines you wish to attract to your airport in a relaxed atmosphere!"
- Exhibitor/Sponsor
“Hosting the conference and showcasing our city to key decision makers and delegates from around the world was invaluable”
- Host Sponsor
2019 Newsletters
Conference tools
The activities of the Slot Conference are managed by the Worldwide Airport Slots Department
Registration
This event requires registration. Invitations to register for SC148 were sent out directly to all accredited delegates at the end of March 2021, please contact the registration team directly at IATASC@MCVEIGH.COM if you have not received your invitation to register at that time or require further information.
To ensure you receive your invitation to register for future events, please take a moment to save IATASC@MCVEIGH.COM to your email Safe List. This will ensure you receive your invitations and they are not filtered by your organization's email system to your Junk Mail folder.
We recommended delegates speak with their IT dept. to ensure IATASC@MCVEIGH.COM is saved to their Internet service provider's 'whitelist' and if necessary provide them with the following IP addresses 198.207.147.224/27 and 204.239.0.224/27 that are used to send delegates registration emails. This should ensure messages that are sent automatically from the registration system are not blocked by your organization's system.
Delegate registration fee
For SC148 there is no delegate registration fee, the conference is free of charge for IATA member airlines.
Non-IATA Member Airline
Due to the extraordinary circumstances the registration fee for Non-IATA member airlines has been reduced by 50% to $500 USD for this conference only (applicable taxes will be payable).
Please note that the delegate registration fee applies to airline representatives and slot coordinators / schedule facilitators that are attending the conference in order to adjust and discuss their schedules for the upcoming Northern Winter 2021 season only.
If you are interested in attending the conference in a marketing capacity to promote your organization, please see the SPONSORS/EXHIBITORS section and contact Mickey Martin for more information.
Taxes/fees: All rates are subject to all applicable local taxes that apply at the time. Taxes and fees are subject to change without notice. Bank/ Wire Transfer: All Wire Transfers are due within 7 days of registration. Note there is a $100 USD fee for all wire transfers.
How to register
Step by step instructions on how to register including delegate registration fees, representing more than one company/visa letters if required etc. can be found in our instructional pdf.
Thank you to our Sponsors
The IATA Slot Conference provides the perfect opportunity to network over 500 airline representatives representing 230 unique airlines throughout the world. This semi-annual meeting attracts roughly 1,200 delegates allowing both airlines and airports to meet, discuss and obtain the slots that will give them the best possible schedule to offer their customers.
In order to participate (as an exhibitor or sponsor) it is not obligatory to be a slot coordinated airport! Approximately 45% of exhibitors participating at the event are not slot coordinated.
Sponsorship/Exhibition, please contact
Mickey Martin
Business Development Director
Tel.: +1-631-841-6866
Join IATA's Strategic Partnership Program
Benefit from discounts on sponsorship and exhibition rates. Get on Board!
People you will meet
AIRLINES
- VP's of Network Planning
- Schedule Planning Managers
- Route Development Managers
- Charter Managers
- Fleet Planning Managers
AIRPORTS
- Heads of Traffic Development
- Marketing Directors
- Route Development Managers
Sponsors
Exhibitors
The virtual Slot Conference will be hosted on the same virtual conference system as SC147, but with enhanced features, such as group video calls, the chat function and networking opportuninties. Accreditation remains necessary and will ensure that only accredited delegates, authorized to complete slot transactions on behalf of their organization can attend and work at the conference. Visitors, Observers and Support staff will be able to view presentations but not attend coordination meetings, as usual.
The virtual system opens to all registered participants for customization on 26 May 2021 (10:00 UTC).
The Slot Conference Virtual Platform
The virtual platform we are using is easy to access online and does not require any plug-ins or downloads, only a good internet connection and a webcam for virtual meetings. From feedback requesting longer timings for these virtual meetings, we have set meeting times to 20 minutes allowing three meetings an hour over the four days.
The platform will enable users to:
- Customize your profile and meeting calendar
- Plan your meeting schedule prior to the conference start date
- Have one-on-one and group video conference meetings
- Instant chat with other participants
- If required, have the option to meet with more than one other attendee
- Invite additional registered users to attend your meetings (up to 8 users)
- Share your screen and documents
- Participate in live discussions
- Network and visit exhibitors and sponsors at their virtual exhibition booths
- Drop by the IATA Slot Desk to meet informally to discuss slot matters or ask any questions
- Visit the Info Booth for help or assistance at the conference
To make your virtual slot conference experience as smooth as possible, we will share with registered attendees, user guides, video tutorials, instructions and more information on this system. This will help you to familiarize yourself with the system at customization (26 May, 10:00 UTC) before it opens for making appointments.
Time Zone
The system will be available for use and for making appointments 24 hours a day, to ensure each user in each time zone can block their schedule to the times that they are available and wish to work. This will give you the freedom to make your appointments at the most convenient time for you and your colleagues, in whatever time zone you are present or choose to work in.
For example, an organization may wish to register delegates and roster their staff to concentrate on specific time zones to make best use of their meetings. One person might be assigned to handle appointments for Asia and Oceana, one for Europe, Middle East and Africa and one for the Americas – this way they could each stay in the relevant time zone and work on getting the results they need in that area. Others may wish to work more flexibly, when and how it suits them. You are in control of how you wish to work. Users will be requested to block the times they are unavailable for meetings during the customization phase of the virtual platform beginning 26 May 2021 at 10:00 UTC.
To give the conference an official format we will use 07:00 – 19:00 UTC as core hours for planning of presentations and meetings, these will start at the most convenient time for all attendees and ensure there are playback opportunities for time zones outside of these hours.
SC148 Program
For the second virtual Slot Conference, we have created additional program sessions for an even better conference experience.
The sessions will be aimed at all delegates and will be informative discussions around current topics, please view a selection of the program highlights below. The program will be continually updated with more information and timings as we move closer to the event.
| title | speakers |
|---|---|
| Welcome message |
Sebastian Mikosz, IATA, Senior Vice President for Member and External Relations |
|
Another brick in the wall – the role of destination marketing and incentives in restoring demand for air travel |
Coming soon! |
|
Slot Performance monitoring – An essential part of the slot process |
Rodrigo Neves Martins, ANAC Marcelo Vasconcellos, GRU Airport Marcos Castanheiros, LATAM |
|
Digital Travel Pass – restarting travel safely and efficiently |
Coming soon! |
|
The Worldwide Airport Slot Board – priorities and challenges for the recovery in 2021 |
Worldwide Airport Slot Board (WASB) members |
|
Head Delegate Airline Meeting (HOD-A) & |
Lara Maughan, IATA |
All presentations and sessions will be recorded so that they can be viewed at a later time if they conflict with delegate meeting schedules.
Exceptionally for this virtual event, all Airline Representatives will be invited to the Head Airline meeting and all Airline Representatives, Coordinators and Facilitators will be invited to the Head Delegate meeting.
If you are interested in contributing to the program please fill in the form through the link.
Airport Slot Coordination Training
Widen your expertise and participate in one of our training courses! We offer two courses focusing on airport slots, the Airport Slots and Coordination course and our new course, Airport Slot Coordination: Policy and Implementation. You can attend both slots training courses also as virtual classroom courses.
Airport Slots Management and Coordination
Airport Slots Coordination: Policy and Regulation (NEW!)
Due to the growth of air traffic’, some airports are experiencing a discrepancy between available airport capacity and demand. Coordination involves the allocation of constrained or limited airport capacity to airlines and other aircraft operators to ensure a viable airport and air transport operation. Coordination is also a process to maximize the efficient use of airport infrastructure. This course will help you learn how to allocate and coordinate airport slots by applying the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG), the accepted global standard for airport slot allocation.
What you will learn
- Allocate slots according to the requirements and procedures for either facilitated (level 2) airports or coordinated (level 3) airports
- Apply the standard procedures for communication between airlines and slot coordinators
- Maximize your slot portfolio management capabilities
- Apply slot procedures and understand the impact of international rules and regulations
- Execute slot messages in compliance with SSIM Chapter 6
- Analyze capacity constraints and historic slot eligibility
The aviation industry faces enormous challenges as a result of insufficient airport infrastructure across the globe. The Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG) help the industry to meet ever-growing consumer demand for such infrastructure. The Airport Slot Coordination: Policy and Implementation course will provide you with an enhanced and balanced understanding of these challenges as well as the principles that have been developed to meet demand in a fair, transparent, and neutral way while promoting the most efficient use of scarce airport capacity.
What you will learn
- Describe the global context of schedule planning in a constrained airport environment and how it relates to connectivity, competition, and consumer benefits of aviation
- Explain the challenges posed by insufficient airport infrastructure
- Detail the principles and objectives of the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines Justify the need for transparency, flexibility, sustainability, certainty, and consistency in airport capacity allocation
- Advocate for the optimization of scarce airport capacity
These courses are available at IATA Training Centers, regional training partner locations, and on-demand as in-company training.
Testimonials for the Airport Slots and Coordination Course
Adam Mohamed - IOC Senior Operations Controller - Gulf Air
I attended the 3 day’s Airport slots and coordination classroom course to further expand my knowledge in the aviation field. I did anticipate difficulties in completing this course especially in such a short timeframe. However, the instructor taught in such a way the information was passed clearly, whereby we not only understood the content but were also able to apply this knowledge beneficially upon returning to duty.
I would recommend from my personal experience this course for anyone in the aviation Industry.
Liva Ozolina - Scheduling and Slot Manager - AirBaltic
Even though I have been working with slot handling messages and WSG for few years now, this course was very useful for strengthening my knowledge and for learning new specific details with well though examples on respective cases. I would suggest this course for everyone whose daily work is related to airport slots.
Md Ashraful Haque - Manager Operations-Schedules Planning - Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Though I had some previous hands-on experience on Airport Slots and Coordination procedures but in some critical cases I experienced some situations when it would get very difficult for me to find a solution. A sincere thanks to IATA for arranging such an advantageous course, which gives a clear idea about ins and outs of the airport slot coordination.
The course covers a wide range of information about scheduling guidelines and slot handling procedures.
