Esta es la versión HTML de un fichero adjunto a una solicitud de acceso a la información 'Meetings between Comissioner Adina-Ioana Vălean and Industry'.



Removed
Date
22 June 2020
Director General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) 
European Commission 
Ref 
SlotUseWaiver-
Wetstraat 200 -BERL 12/069 
NW20-COVID19 
B-1069 Brussels
By email to Removed
Dear Removed,  
Extension of Slot Use Alleviation for Northern Winter 2020 
As the aviation industry continues its fight for survival, we are writing to you to ask for urgent support for the 
upcoming Northern Winter 2020 season (25 October 2020 to 27 March 2021). We greatly appreciate the speed 
at which you were able to grant the slot use waiver for the Northern Summer season. Al eviation has been 
granted at all 197 slot coordinated airports for the whole of the summer season – clearly this has been 
essential given the col apse of air travel in the last months, but it also provides a significant piece of support for 
the restart phase. 
The airline industry is in the middle of the worst crisis it has ever experienced, and the situation has 
deteriorated since we addressed the need for alleviation for the Northern Summer season. Airlines are now 
expected to post a loss of $84.3 bil ion in 2020, by far the biggest in aviation history, with losses of $16 billion 
forecast already for 2021. By comparison, airlines lost $31 billion during the Global Financial Crisis and oil price 
spike in 2008-09. As we now enter the chal enging period of restarting aviation globally from virtually nothing, 
we must ensure consumer confidence is rebuilt and the industry can respond to demand and the reopening of 
borders so that essential air services can resume in a sustainable manner. 
We appreciate the European Commission’s assistance to the aviation industry throughout the crisis, it is 
important during the restart that the sector continues to be supported; alleviation measures will be a vital 
ingredient for recovery. The airlines are increasingly fragile, with debt bal ooning to 92% of expected revenues 
in 2021. Their ability to survive the typically challenging Northern Winter season wil  be dependent on how agile, 
responsive, and sustainable their operations can be. One of the elements needed to ensure optimal flexibility is 
an extension of the slot waiver to the whole Northern Winter season. In this critical situation, airlines must try to 
match capacity and frequency of operations to demand and to best use infrastructure in a sustainable manner. 
There is clear evidence of the need for alleviation to be extended: 

As the number of COVID cases daily continues to rise, bookings for air travel are at historical lows
globally. No region is immune from the impacts of COVID and therefore airlines are unable to redeploy
flying to other markets. The global network is thus deeply impacted, and the ensuing recession will
bring further chal enges for recovery.
o Globally RPKs fell 20% after 9/11 and 12% after SARS, compared to a 95% fall in April 2020.
o Overall bookings are down 82% year-on-year for 2020, compared to the outlook in June 2019.


Consumer demand has also continued to decrease during the crisis: 45% of passengers surveyed are
looking to travel in 1-2 months, whereas 60% expressed intention to travel just one month ago.
Continued uncertainty around government restrictions, quarantine, and the risk of a second wave
means that until it is possible to contain this pandemic, consumer demand wil  be deeply impacted.

Airlines are missing vital visibility on demand to plan their schedule.
o Long-haul forward bookings for the first week of November 2020 are 59% below normal levels.
Historical trends show that about 14% of airline tickets are sold 22 weeks in advance of travel.
o Current bookings for 1-7 November show that this year tickets have been sold to only 5% of
the 2019 number of passengers.
o Passengers are booking far closer to the time of travel. In May 2020 only 29% of bookings were
for travel 20 or more days in the future, sharply down from 49% in 2019. Meanwhile, 41% of
bookings in May 2020 were for travel within 3 days, more than double the 18% in May 2019.

Airlines will need schedule flexibility to ensure loads are sustainable given yields are coming under
pressure – break-even load factors remain high.

The bulk of airlines make their money in the Northern Summer season, while the Northern Winter
season – even in the best of times – sees a struggle to remain profitable. This year this model will be
impossible. Rather than earning most of their profit in the summer months, airlines are accumulating
$84 billion in losses in these two quarters.
Until there is a clear path towards a vaccine and/or treatment for COVID-19 and until there is clear visibility on 
the exit strategies for existing travel bans and health requirements, we expect to continue seeing big drops in 
advance bookings and increased last-minute bookings (and cancellations) on most routes for the foreseeable 
future. 
Agreeing to conditions that ensure responsible use of a waiver 
Based upon discussions with airports, coordinators, and lessons learned from the current Northern Summer 
season waiver we believe the attached paper outlining conditions to be established in combination with a slot 
use waiver provides a responsible approach that balances the needs of all aviation industry stakeholders.  We 
believe these conditions could be formalized separately, in order not to delay the adoption of the waiver under 
the urgency procedure described in article 12 b of 2020/459 Regulation. 
Why we need the certainty of a slot waiver before the end of July 
Airlines are currently in the middle of the slot coordination process for the Northern Winter season and are 
required to return slots they wil  not operate by the deadline at the end of August. It is clear during this first 
season of restart that the industry wil  not be able to operate at the same size and scale seen in previous 
seasons. The certainty of a slot use waiver is needed before August to allow airlines to plan and reduce their 
schedule according to best-known consumer demand, global restrictions, and – importantly – with knowledge 
of how their historic slots wil  be treated. This underpins the ability for the coordinator to manage the slot pool 
and reallocate available capacity, provides airports with earlier schedules to plan accordingly, and allows 
partners such as ANSPs, fuel providers, ground handlers, and catering to plan their own services. 
Without the urgent certainty of a waiver, airlines assume a huge risk to schedules and networks that have been 
built and optimized over decades. Northern Winter demand is insufficient to sustain existing schedules at 
required levels and airlines must make difficult decisions in the coming weeks about their schedules. It would 
be environmental and financial suicide to be forced to operate services purely to protect their post-recovery 
network. 
Why the availability of airport capacity is a critical factor when considering the need for a waiver 
Airport capacity is being put under new pressures due to the biosecurity measures required to ensure a safe 
and healthy journey. Effective capacity wil  be reduced in many circumstances due to these measures, while the 
airlines’ schedules will temporarily need to be adjusted to accommodate increasing turnaround times to 
manage these new processes. Minimum connection time impacts are yet to be known but could require further 


rescheduling of operations to ensure connectivity. By providing a flexible environment for these changes to be 
accommodated, airlines can react as needed and slot coordinators can manage the process of re-timings. 
Requesting your urgent action 
The current crisis is truly global in scale and impact, with no country exempt, and airlines need to be able to 
take steps at all Level 3 slot coordinated airports worldwide. 
With the global aviation network made up of many connections relying on schedules and slot holdings built 
over decades, it would further harm economies, consumers, and the industry if these connections were lost as 
a result of a lack of flexibility during the restart. A massive majority - 94% - of airport-pairs connect indirectly, 
although most travel is on trunk routes – the slots that support this connectivity could be lost and city pairs 
vastly reduced without alleviation. 
We are asking for this now, for the ful  season, because this enables the airlines to act according to their 
planning timeframes and best use the slot flexibility to align demand to their schedule and to change flying 
patterns to maintain global connectivity. Having schedules confirmed earlier allows industry partners to be 
better informed, and provides more certain schedules for the consumer, the cargo supply chain, and the wider 
economy. 
We would be grateful if you would respond to this critical request to Removed  (Removed) as soon as possible. 
We believe that the data included in our Economic report provide the evidence needed to justify urgent action 
before the end of July.  
Yours sincerely, 
Removed
Removed
Removed
 Regional Vice President 
 Director General 
 Director General 
IATA 
ERA 
AIRE