2.5.1. Introduction
In this section, we present an overview of the current worldwide scheduling process and of the IATA Schedules Conferences.
The scheduling process is discussed in Section 2.5.2; Section 2.5.3 describes the IATA Scheduling Conference
2.5.2. The worldwide scheduling process
The IATA Worldwide Scheduling Guidelines describe the scheduling process for non coordinated, schedules facilitated and fully coordinated airports. We focus in this section on fully coordinated airports since slots are allocated at such airports only.
By way of illustration, the scheduling process for the Winter 2003/04 scheduling season is shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1
Scheduling Timetable for Winter 2003/04 Timetable Season
March April May June July August September October
End of Winter 02-03 season End of Winter 02-03 season List of historics provided by coordinator List of historics provided by coordinator Deadline for Slot Clearance Requests (SCR) Deadline for Slot Clearance Requests (SCR) IATA Schedules Conference IATA Schedules Conference Initial slot allocation date Initial slot allocation date Slot return deadline Slot return deadline Start of Winter 03-04 season Start of Winter 03-04 season 26 31 8 14-17 18 15 29 2003
March April May June July August September October
End of Winter 02-03 season End of Winter 02-03 season List of historics provided by coordinator List of historics provided by coordinator Deadline for Slot Clearance Requests (SCR) Deadline for Slot Clearance Requests (SCR) IATA Schedules Conference IATA Schedules Conference Initial slot allocation date Initial slot allocation date Slot return deadline Slot return deadline Start of Winter 03-04 season Start of Winter 03-04 season 26 31 8 14-17 18 15 29 2003
Key dates in the timetable are:
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In mid-April, the coordinators provide airlines with information on their entitlement to historical slots, which is dependent on the extent to which airlines have actually operated the slots that were allocated to them for the previous Winter season ending19 29 March 2003.17 The slots held on file by the coordinators at the slot return deadline
dates (31 August 2002 for the 2002/03 Winter season) will be used as the basis for the determination of historics.
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Airlines have to provide details of their planned schedules for the Winter 2003/04 season to the coordinator, using a Slot Clearance Request, by 18 May 2003. The request should include historic slots, changes to historic slots and new slots.•
By 8 June 2003, coordinators should inform the airlines of the status of their requested slots. This information should include the changes required to meet capacity limitations. If a requested slot is not available, coordinators should offer the nearest time available.The Worldwide Scheduling Guidelines specify that coordinators should not enter into a dialogue with airlines prior to the start of the Schedules Conference. However, airlines that are willing to accept initial slot offers should confirm this to the coordinator.
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The Schedules Conference will be held from 14 to 17 June 2003. The process of a Schedules Conference is described in Section 2.5.3 below.•
After the Schedules Conference, schedules are finalised. Schedules are normally loaded into the reservations systems within a month to six weeks after the Conference.•
Unwanted slots for the Winter 2003/04 season should be returned by 31 August 2003.2.5.3. The IATA Schedules Conferences
The IATA Schedules Conference, organised twice a year in June and November, is a forum for, inter alia, the allocation of slots at fully coordinated airports. Representatives of up to 300 airlines come to meet with representatives from more than 200 schedules facilitated or fully coordinated airports. At the 111th Schedules Conference in Vancouver in November
2002, over 920 delegates were present, of which about 720 from airlines and 160 from coordinators.
During the Conference, schedules are adjusted mainly through bilateral discussions between airlines and Coordinators regarding alternatives offered, or between airlines to exchange slots offered or accepted. A schedule change at one airport will affect one or more other
17 For Summer seasons, coordinators have to inform airlines of historics by mid-September. However, the Summer
seasons do not actually end until the end of October. This means that coordinators have to supply the airlines with information on historics based on the current Summer season up to that time. This information has to be regarded as provisional until the season is completed.
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airports. Because all Coordinators attend the Conference, it provides a forum in which all such repercussive changes can be processed.
Although the work of coordinators continues after the conferences (for example to reallocate returned slots and to accommodate schedule change requests), the conferences are the main forum for the allocation of slots. Allocating slots after the Conference can be problematic since it is considerably more difficult to obtain compatible slots at other constrained airports without the opportunities provided by the Conference.
2.5.4. After the conference
After the conference, airlines continue their scheduling process right through to the start of the timetable (and beyond to deal with changes in the timetable).
Fine tuning the schedules to match the available slot holdings can be done in various ways. If there are small mismatches between the slot holdings and the timetable (eg 5 or 10 minutes), then it may be possible to reschedule the flights concerned to the slots actually held. If the mismatches become larger, eg 15 or 20 minutes, then it may in some cases still be possible to reschedule the flights to slots held. This can however be difficult and there will be instances where such rescheduling is not possible without impacting on the overall schedule. In the case of larger mismatches, rescheduling will often be impossible and slot exchanges are likely to be required. In the few cases where rescheduling is possible in such circumstances, there will be a commercial impact arising from a suboptimal schedule (eg flights not evenly spaced throughout the day).
Airlines view the adjustment process after the slot conferences as very important and in fact, under the current system, the majority of slot scheduling problems are resolved through slot exchanges after the conferences (as opposed to exchanges during the conferences themselves). These exchanges are of varying complexity.
In some cases, the proportion of slots held by a carrier after a conference that is subsequently exchanged (ie after the conference) can be substantial. For charter airlines that are not vertically integrated with tour operators, as many as 30 per cent of slots may be exchanged with other airlines in the period after the conference.
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3.
IMPACT OF THE EXISTING FRAMEWORK
3.1. Introduction
This chapter presents a basic factual background to the report. We first examine the current use of EU Category 1 airports under regulation 95/93. The analysis is based on information gathered from airports, coordinators and public sources through questionnaire responses and interviews. In sections 3.2 through to section 3.8 we describe
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Category 1 airports and their current level of use•
The structure of charges at Category 1 airports•
The extent of excess demand for slots at Category 1 airports•
The traffic mix and variations in the mix of traffic at Category 1 airports•
Variations in aircraft loadings and size between Category 1 airports•
The operational patterns of network carriers and how this affects peak times•
Variations in the slot holding of the major carriers at airportsIn Section 3.9 we then present projections of the degree of congestion at Category 1 airports in 2007. These are based upon passenger and ATM forecasts provided by the airports and expected increases of capacity, either through capital projects, improved air traffic control or the lifting of legal restrictions.