An Overview of the Slot Challenge in the U.S. And EU
20 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2009
Date Written: September 22, 2009
Abstract
This is a Panel Paper which was used in conjunction with the Airport Challenges: Young Lawyers Take a Strategic View panel held on Friday, September 25, 2009 as part of the ABA Forum on Air & Space Law Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. It represents an original, ongoing (thus incomplete) analysis by the author on the issues of congestion and slot allocation at airports in the United States (U.S.) and European Union (EU). It is not, however, a finished work. Any reader wishing to use or cite from this Paper should first contact the author for permission. The Paper that follows first examines the meaning of slots and the legal definitions of the concept. It then offers a brief overview of slot control in the U.S. and offers a critical account of the Federal Aviation Administration’s aborted plan to establish slot auctions at three New York-area airports. A comparison with the slot control and allocation measures undertaken in the European Union follows. Finally, this Paper will close with some concluding thoughts on the challenge of using the slot concept to control capacity at airports on both sides of the Atlantic.
Keywords: aviation, slots, congestion, European Union, airports, capacity
JEL Classification: K23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation