Slots...

[Air Badger]

Just out of interest, was wondering about aquiring slots. Obviously ya hear a lot about slots at big airports like LHR costing tens of millions, does it cost alot at smaller airports or is it just at those where slots are filled/almost filled???

I'm thinking places like LTN, STN etc!

[Lucifer]

Slots are allocated by the airport, not sold; they are subsequently traded by airlines between each other when unused or no longer required.

Clearly if there is no market, then a slot is worth little; it is worth however only what a purchased is prepared to pay for it.

[Air Badger]

Thanks for that lucifer :ok: :)

[Gonzo]

http://www.acl-uk.org/

Have a look here.

[Cyrano]

Air Badger:
Gonzo's link is a good starting point.

Here's (http://80.168.119.219/UserFiles/File/STN%20W06%20Start%20of%20Season%20Report.pdf) an ACL report (PDF format) on the slot situation at Stansted (for example) as of the start of the W06 season. Look in particular at the graphs on pages 19-23. These show allocated slots versus available slots ("available" based on the capacity of the runway, the terminals, etc.).

If you're an airline wanting to fly into STN at a time when there's capacity available, you ask ACL for a slot (e.g. "I want an 0700 arrival every Tuesday during the winter season") and they give it to you. That's all there is to it - no money changes hands. If you use substantially all of those slots (there's a numerical limit which I can't recall - perhaps 85%?), you're entitled to the same slot the following winter. If you don't use the slots, you lose them.

The complication comes when there are no free slots (e.g LHR peak time, or indeed LCY much of the day). If your airline really REALLY wants to fly in to that airport you end up doing a deal with an airline that already has slots there, either to permanently take over their slots (these are the deals that typically get reported with "40 million pound" headlines, at least at LHR) or just to "babysit" their slots for a shorter period. At least up until a couple of years ago the legal enforceability of such "grey market" deals was a bit questionable - I don't know whether things are any clearer now.

Hope this helps.

Brgds
C.

[Air Badger]

Thank you everyone, very helpful :O

[747-436]

There are some smaller airports that are not slot controlled, which means an Airline or other operator can get in to the airport pretty much when they like. There are not many of these left in the UK but in other parts of the world you will find a lot of large airports that have no slot controls at all.