– This winter season, we reduced the slot requirements from 80%. to 50 percent, which means that currently aviation companies will have to use only 50 percent. a given series of slots to keep your rights. In December last year, the Commission decided to further extend the slots discount rules to the 2022 summer season – airlines will have to use only 64%. of their slots to preserve historical rights, EC spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker told PAP.
He added that, according to the European Commission, both values - 50 percent. and 64 percent – provide adequate relief in the context of air traffic figures and forecasts provided by the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation Eurocontrol.
– In the current winter season, air traffic (…) has been around 73-78 percent so far. compared to 2019, and annual air traffic in 2022 is forecast at 88%. compared to 2019 – he pointed out.
– Moreover, the EU slot relief also includes a very important safety valve in the form of a legitimate non-application exception, which can be used in addition to the already reduced slot utilization rate, he said, adding that under this exception, citing, for example, “force majeure”, the airline may refer to the slots coordinator if it is unable to operate the route due to severe sanitary restrictions hampering the travel of passengers.
– The relief has worked very well for almost two years, providing the necessary support that prevented economically and environmentally harmful flights for the sole purpose of maintaining slots. The arguments that EU rules oblige airlines to fly cannot therefore be accepted. If airlines decide to take empty or almost empty flights, it is because they have chosen so, he pointed out.
Lufthansa accuses the European Commission of forcing airlines to make environmentally harmful empty flights through bureaucratic regulations on slot allocation. Currently, in order to maintain valid take-off and landing rights, there are 100 unnecessary, almost unmanned Lufthansa flights every day, a company spokesman complains.
The background to the dispute is the rules on slots changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. access to particularly crowded airports at certain times. “Since last March, airlines have to use 50% of their slots, otherwise they risk losing take-off and landing rights. Before the pandemic, the required rate was 80%. Several airlines consider these targets unrealistic. Dutch KLM, owned by French airlines. Air France, complain that they face a dilemma: either fly half-empty planes or lose seats due to canceled flights, “reports ARD.
According to television, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr complained at the end of 2021 that “due to the 50% limit, 18,000 unnecessary flights will have to be made in the winter flight schedule by the end of March”. According to ARD, the EU is thus harming the climate and running counter to the climate protection goals it has set for itself by 2030. Leading German airlines are advocating flexible and non-bureaucratic exceptions for the rest of the winter flight schedule. The EC should work on a uniform regulation to avoid unnecessary flights and enable airlines to better plan.
Lufthansa even received support from the well-known Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. “The EU is in a climate-threatening state,” Thunberg recently tweeted, criticizing the thousands of unnecessary empty Brussels Airlines flights owned by Lufthansa.
“No airline to date has provided evidence of alleged ghostly flights.”
The EC strongly refutes the allegations of Lufthansa and Thunberg. – European rules are clearly not to blame for the current empty flights – emphasized a spokesman for the Commission. It is still the commercial decision of any airline whether to operate the flight or not. Lufthansa also benefits from numerous exceptions that have been initiated by the German slot coordinator. In addition, no airline has so far provided evidence of alleged ghostly flights, the Commission says.
Low cost airlines like Ryanair also criticize Lufthansa and even laugh at the Germans. “Lufthansa is shedding crocodile tears over the environment, but is ready to do whatever it takes to maintain its slots,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. The EC should ignore Lufthansa’s “false claims” about the need for empty ghost flights, the low-cost carrier announced. Instead, the EC should force Lufthansa and other state-subsidized airlines to release slots they do not want to use, Ryanair believes.
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