Recently, the European Union (EU) conducted a public consultation on a possible revision of Council Regulation European Economic Community (EEC) 95/93 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. While open skies agreements are developing rapidly and the Single European Sky (SES) takes shape, airport slot allocation in the EU is based on a regulation that remained nearly unchanged for the last twenty years. The EU could, however, profit from the variety of experiences made in the United States, where secondary slot trading was introduced as early as 1985. Since 2008, slot auctions have moved back into the US spotlight, when the Bush Administration proposed new Congestion Management Rules. Facing a possible capacity crunch in Europe, the question arises: Quo vadis, EU?
This article was drafted as a contribution to the 2011 International Air Transport Association (IATA) Legal Writing Award, which was generously sponsored by Jones Day.
There is nothing like competition as a goad to efficiency.
- Alfred Kahn
Air and Space Law