IATA chief calls for strengthening Worldwide Slot Guidelines to build more capacity

IATA director-general and CEO Alexandre De Juniac has called for strengthening the Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG), which is a “well-established” global system for allocating airport slots at capacity constrained airports.

“Today, the WSG is being used at about 200 airports accounting for 43% of global traffic,” De Juniac said in an interview with Gulf Times in Doha on Tuesday. WSG, the IATA chief insisted, is a “well-established” global system for allocating airport slots. “The problem is that more people want to fly than airports have the capacity to accommodate. The solution is to build more capacity. “But that is not happening fast enough. So, we have a globally-agreed system to allocate slots at capacity constrained airports,” De Juniac noted.Earlier, addressing the opening session of the ‘CAPA Aeropolitical and Regulatory Affairs Summit’ at Sheraton Doha yesterday he said, “Some governments have tried to tinker with the system. And we have fiercely resisted. Why? Because allocating a slot at Tokyo, for example, means nothing if there isn’t a corresponding slot available at the destination at the required time. The system will only work if the parties at both ends of a route are using the same rules. Tinkering by any participant messes it up for everybody!“Like any system, it can always be improved. That’s why we are working with Airports Council International (ACI) on optimisation proposals.” De Juniac said something that has come to light in the process is that there is no standard methodology for airports to declare their capacity. And it is becoming clear that under-declaration by airports is an artificial limit on capacity and a handicap on the system that must be remedied.“We reject categorically, however, proposals for slot auctioning,” De Juniac said.An important principle of ‘Smarter Regulation’ is that it creates value as measured by cost-benefit analysis. Auctioning does not create more capacity. It would, however, add costs to the industry. And, it will be detrimental to competition as new capacity would only be available to those airlines with the deepest pockets.“By all means, let’s make the WSG work better. But let’s not compromise the value that is inherent in a reliable, transparent, neutral and global system — a system that has enabled the growth of a fiercely competitive industry. I hope that this afternoon’s discussion on slots will yield some good ideas,” De Juniac said.He said, “Aviation is a global industry. This year it will safely meet the transport needs of 4.6bn travellers. It will power the global economy by transporting 66mn tonnes of cargo, the value of which accounts for a third of global trade.“The industry’s footprint extends to every corner of the earth. Never before have we been so connected to each other. And as the density of global connectivity grows each year, the world becomes more prosperous.”De Juniac noted that “aviation is the business of freedom”. “At the IATA AGM here in Doha in 2014, we celebrated the centenary of the first commercial flight. Aviation has changed the world for the better by pushing back the horizons of distance and fuelling globalisation. As an industry, we can be proud.“We could not, however, operate at the current level of safety, with the same level of efficiency or at the scale that we do without commonly understood and implemented rules of the game. Regulation is vitally important to aviation.”Many have the impression that trade associations “fight” regulation. “As the director-general of IATA, it is true that much of my time is focused on advocacy, but with the aim of achieving the regulatory structure needed for aviation’s success."On the one hand, that means working with governments directly and through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to produce regulation that enables aviation to fulfil its mission as the ‘business of freedom’. On the other hand, it means rallying the airlines to agree global standards that support the global system."To complete the metaphor, global standards and regulation work hand-in-hand to make flying safe, efficient and sustainable. “And by sustainable, I mean both in terms of the environment and the industry’s finances,” he said.