Explanatory note

These Regulations amend assimilated law in the field of aviation, relating to the allocation of slots at congested airports in England and Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland. They amend Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at United Kingdom airports (“Regulation 95/93”).

Paragraph 6 of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93 provides that 50% of slots placed in the slot pool must first be allocated to new entrants unless requests by new entrants are less than 50%. Regulation 2(2) amends the definition of “new entrant” in Article 2(b) of Regulation 95/93 so that a “new entrant” is an air carrier who holds fewer than seven slots at an airport on a particular day, rather than one holding fewer than five such slots.

Regulation 2(3)(a) and (b)(i), which does not extend to Northern Ireland, omits paragraphs 2a and 4(e), (f) and (g) of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93 as they are no longer required. Those provisions of Article 10 did not extend to Northern Ireland.

Under paragraph 2 of Article 8 and paragraph 2 of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93, air carriers are generally required to return airport slots to the slot coordinator at the end of the scheduling period for which they were allocated, unless they operated the series of slots for at least 80% of the time, or unless the non-utilisation can be justified on the basis of certain reasons listed in paragraph 4 of Article 10.

Regulation 2(3)(b)(ii) inserts a new paragraph 4(h) of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93 to make provision about the allocation of airport slots to air carriers following a reduction in the level of air traffic as a result of government restrictions imposed as a consequence of a pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak of disease.

Regulation 3 makes transitional and saving provision with regard to the omission of paragraph 4(g) of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93 in order to ensure that the substitution has no effect in relation to the allocation of slots for the scheduling period which is running from when these Regulations come into force until 29th March 2025 inclusive. As paragraph 4(g) of Article 10 of Regulation 95/93 did not extend to Northern Ireland, the transitional and saving provision in regulation 3 similarly does not extend to Northern Ireland.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs to business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department for Transport 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR, and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on legislation.gov.uk.