Regulation (EU) 2021/250

Ce que fait l'acte

to grant aviation stakeholders temporary relief from airport slot use requirements at Community airports for the summer 2021 scheduling season in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: due to the decline in passenger demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, air carriers have made major changes to their schedules since 1 March 2020, which have resulted in a slot utilisation rate at coordinated airports falling far below the 80% threshold imposed by the Slot Regulation. This situation is likely to continue to negatively impact air carriers up to and including winter 2024/2025. The European Parliament adopted by 683 votes to 3, with 4 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 as regards temporary relief from the slot utilisation rules at Community airports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed regulation aims at introducing specific rules and relief from the general slot utilisation rules for a limited period of time in order to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on air traffic. Parliament adopted its position at first reading in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure by amending the Commission proposal as follows: Due to the drop in passenger demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule imposed by the Slot Regulation was suspended in March 2020 to prevent airlines from flying empty aircraft during the pandemic. This exemption expires on 27 March 2021. For the period starting after more than one year of the abandonment of the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule (1 February 2020 to 27 March 2021), which preserves the 2019 acquired slots of air carriers until the end of the winter 2021/2022 scheduling season, the proposed regulation aims to establish a way to return to a normal application of the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule. Thus, with the updated rules, airlines would have to use only 50% of their take-off and landing slots scheduled during the summer of 2021 (instead of the 80% required before the pandemic) in order to be able to retain them for the following season. In addition, the European Commission could adopt, where strictly necessary to take account of the evolution of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on air traffic levels, delegated acts to adjust the utilisation rate within a range of 30% to 70%. Air carriers operating or intending to operate at a schedule facilitated or coordinated airport shall submit to the schedules facilitator or coordinator respectively all relevant information requested by them. In particular, an air carrier should inform the coordinator, at the time of the request for allocation, whether it would benefit from the status of new entrant, in respect of requested slots. The amended text clarifies that the negative consequences of possible measures, adopted by public authorities of Member States or third countries to…