Slot Allocation in Europe

The European Economic Community, which was an economic union of States, had its genesis in the Treaty of Rome of 25 March gjjjj became the European 

Union by virtue of the Treaty of Maastricht of February 1992, which was amended 

From a legal perspective, air carriers of the member States of the EU cannot have a Eiffopean nationality since the EU does not have the sovereign status of a State. This notwithstanding, the Council of Ministers of the EU has given the European Commission the mandate to negotiate with the US and other third countries, particularly to have such countries accept the fact that carriers of member States of the EU are Community air carriers established in the territory of the EU irrespective of their national ownership. 

Henri Wassenbergh, Open Skies and a Global Common Air Traffic Market, Journal LuchtRecht, Special Edition, Liber Amicorum in Honour of Prof. Dr. I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor, Nr. 9/10, December 2005, 51 at p.53. 

The Council of the European Communities, by Council Regulation (EEC) No 95193 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports and acting on Article 84(2) of the Treaty of Rome, identifies slot-coordinated airports which are so designated if they suffer from slot-cmistraints. Member States have, under the Regulation, the discretion to designate any other airport as slot-coordinated . Craisequently, not all slot-coordinated airports in the EU actually suffer from slot-constraints. The Regulations require the member states to create the office of a natimial slot-coordinator that allocates slots and monitors the use of allocated slots. 

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The issue of lack of slots at capacity-craistrained airports is not new. Over the past decade, growth in air traffic has continued to outstrip available capacity at many airports. According to lATA, the total number of fully-coordinated airports subject to slot allocation under the lATA Schedule Coordination System had increased from 136 in 2000 to 142 in 2008 (Europe has an increase of 16%). Difficulty in obtaining slots can affect the ability of an air carrier to exercise its market access rights granted under relevant bilateral air services agreements. 

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