Govt proposes to amend slot rules for airlines to ensure better utilisation

NEW DELHI: Financially weak Indian carriers sitting on valuable airport slots without operating flights will soon not be allowed to deprive able and willing airlines from using the same. The Union aviation ministry has proposed to amend the “historicity — ‘use it or lose it’ rule” of its slot allocation guidelines-2013 as under.

The existing clause reads: “Historic precedence is only granted for a series of slots if the airline can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the coordinators that the series was operated at least 80% of the time during the period allocated in the previous equivalent season.”

The government now proposes to change this to: “Historic precedence is only granted for a series of slots if the airline can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the coordinators that the series was operated at least 80% of the time during the period allocated in the previous season.”