Airport slot processes and policies must remain relevant, fit for purpose, and responsive to the various needs and circumstances of airports, especially in a context where demand surpasses a rising number of airports’ existing infrastructure capacity. Airport slot coordination processes must ensure the most efficient use of airport infrastructure.
Airport operators, as providers of the infrastructure, are in a unique and vested position to promote efficiency in the declaration, allocation and use of their capacity and influence the process for the benefit of the travelling public.
The airport community proposals to enhance slot policies and improve the global slot allocation regime were developed through a series of ACI World Airport Slot Policy Forums. ACI’s slot policy positions and proposals can be retrieved in the ACI Airport Slot Policy Forums Proceedings.
Expert Group on Slots (EGS)
The Expert Group on Slots provides strategic and technical guidance to ACI World on the development of policy on airport slot allocation. This group identifies key issues and supports the development of ACI World policies and positions of slots as well as of the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG). The EGS membership reflects the global nature of slot allocation, with representatives from all ACI regions.
Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG)
The Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG) is published by Airports Council International (ACI), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group (WWACG) to provide the global air transport community with a common set of standards for the management of airport slots at coordinated airports and of planned operations at facilitated airports.
The WASG is the result of airport operators, airlines and slot coordinators working together in the Worldwide Airport Slot Board to modernize and improve the slot guidelines, whilst recognizing national or regional legislations. Comprised of an equal number of airports, airlines and coordinators, the mandate of the WASB is to propose areas of policy development, consider ways of improving the procedures, and analyze the impact new technologies to improve slot allocation and consumer outcomes.
As regards to the airport slot alleviation policies in the COVID-19 recovery period, there needs to be a reasonable balance between protecting the reinstatement of pre-COVID-19 networks and enabling the post-COVID-19 “new normal” so that services responding to new patterns of demands can be established. ACI World, along with IATA and slot coordinators, supports the Worldwide Airport Slot Board (WASB) Recommendations, as follows:
ACI Global Training on Airport Slot Allocation
The ACI Global Training course on airport slot allocation sets out how slots are allocated, which guidelines and regulations frame slot allocation processes at global and local levels, and what is the role that airport operators can play to promote the greatest possible efficiency in the use of their infrastructure.