23 February 2022:  ERA has co-signed a letter with worldwide aviation associations requesting the European Commission urgently act on the prolongation of the COVID-19 slot regulation for winter 22/23. For many airlines, going back to normal immediately after summer is no longer realistic after Omicron postponed the expected recovery this winter.

Indeed, the summer season remains highly unpredictable considering how winter 2021 has proceeded. According to the IATA 2021 traffic briefing, recovery was only at 25 per cent of 2019 levels at the end of 2021. The continued depression in passenger demand, mainly affected by ongoing restrictions in Member States and third countries, makes for a difficult to path ahead for restoring connectivity and frequency at sustainable levels seen prior to the crisis. Switching off slot use alleviation too soon will have a long-term impact on the feasibility of existing regional connectivity.

Thus, efforts made by the European Commission in 2020 and 2021 to amend the existing slot regulation to provide relief from usual slot use rules in the form of Regulation 2021/250 should continue for winter 22/23 to ensure a resilient and competitive EU aviation industry during this next phase of the pandemic recovery.