FAA extends slot, schedule waiver at seven major gateways

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has decided to extend through March 27, 2021, i.e. for the duration of the entire Winter 2020/21 season, waivers governing slot rules and schedule requirements at seven major US gateways. Under the terms of the extension, the “use it or lose it” rule enforcing a utilisation rate of at least 80% for slots at New York JFK, Washington National, and New York La Guardia, will be suspended. Carriers will have to return the slots they do not intend to use at least four weeks in advance for flights starting November 12, 2020. They will not, however, lose the slots. The FAA argued that the requirement would only facilitate the usage of the slots by other carriers on an ad-hoc basis, but would not permit their permanent takeover. Slots between October 28 and November 11, 2020, are not subject to the requirement due to the period from the entry into force of the new rules, falling on October 15, being shorter than the prescribed four weeks. At four other airports, which are subject to voluntary schedule coordination but not to slot coordination – namely Chicago O’Hare, New York Newark, Los Angeles Int’l, and San Francisco, CA – the FAA proposed treating cancelled flights as operated for the purposes of allocating future flights as long as the airlines notify the authorities at least four weeks in advance that they do not plan to operate them. The FAA initially proposed extending the schedule coordination waiver only through the end of December 2020 but subsequently agreed to also apply the new rule through the end of the Winter 2020/21 season. The European Commission has already resolved to waive its 80/20 use-it-or-lose-it slot rule for slot-coordinated airports in the European Union during the Winter 2020/21 season. Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int’l), mirroring Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) in Europe, said the waiver was “unacceptably protective of dominant incumbent carriers at the expense of the travelling public and of low-cost carriers ready and willing to serve”.