We have all heard about coveted airport slots, and how many of them can sell for millions of dollars, so today, we thought we would take an inside look into how they work. Before we get into any details, let’s take a look at the definition of an airline slot. Some landing slots are worth millions of dollars. Photo: Getty Images An airport slot, landing slot, or takeoff slot can be described as permission granted to a specific airline by the operator of the airport. This critical period guarantees the airline in question the permission to take off and land at the airport during a specified time. Landing slots at airports may be administrated by the airport or by a government air traffic regulator such as the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The IATA governs landing slots
All landing slots worldwide are administered by the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) Worldwide Airport Slots Group. All the worlds airports fall into the following three categories: Level one non-coordinated airport
Level two schedule facilitated airport
Level three coordinated airport
At level two airports, the rules regulating slots are less stringent, allowing airlines to submit schedules to the airport operator or governing body periodically. Rather than using an airline’s history of flight’s landing and taking off from said airport sticking to a strict schedule helps but is not mandatory. Having said that, airlines that do not have a set timetable can be penalized if the airport is later upgraded to level three status.
According to Wikipedia, a total of 123 airports worldwide were designated as level two airports, while 177 airports were listed as level three. Some landing slots sell for millions
Landing slots at some of the world’s busiest airports can command extortionate prices, as we will show later using London Heathrow (LHR) as an example. It is precisely due to the high cost of obtaining slots at premium airports that low-cost carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair fly in and out of satellite airports. An example of this is Ryanair, who rather than fly to Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY) chooses to fly to Paris Beauvais Airport (BVA), which is located 80 km or 53 miles from Paris. Ryanair oporates out of Paris Beauvais Airport (BVA). Photo: Getty Images With London Heathrow Airport (LHR) being so congested and popular, prices of primetime landing slots trade hands […]