Devils Advocate
Whilst I am not qualified to provide an answer to your questions with regards to the Annual Slot conference, I will have a go on the basis of information that I have access to.
Firstly, I assume that you are referring to the IATA Schedules Conference that meets twice a year – in June and November.
To quote from the IATA World Scheduling Guidelines, ‘The purpose of this voluntary assembly of both IATA and non-IATA airlines worldwide, is to provide a forum for the allocation of slots at fully coordinated airport (Level 3), and for the reaching of consensus on the schedule adjustments necessary to conform to airport capacity limitations (Level 2).’
With regards to the allocation of slots – which as you are aware, are based not just on runway availability, but also apron and terminal capacity – these are based on firstly historical slots, and then the remaining slots are placed in a pool for use by new entrants and airlines looking to extend an existing seasonal service to a year-round one.
All of the above only relates to the allocation of slots at the airport and does not take into accounts delays that may occur as a result of ATC, staffing or operational problems – if only we lived in a perfect world!
As you will see from this, there seems little connection – on this occasion - between your question and that of the problem being raised in this forum.
Regards
Scottie Dog