Slots Schiphol
Posted : admin On 3/22/2022Since the capacity is limited at Schiphol Airport, slots are required. Airlines need a slot for arrival (landing) and a slot for departure (take-off) to be able to operate at the airport. The Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG), provide the industry with a single set of guidelines for airport slot management and allocation. The slot planning process is the essential back bone to allow.
RESTRICTIONS on slot allocations at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport have been suspended until 6 June 2020 to radically improve the availability of ad hoc capacity for full freighter flights, writes Thelma Etim.
Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL) has made the unprecedented decision to halt the Local Rule 2 (LR2) to ensure “necessary freight capacity is maintained in the general interest [of] having goods transported to and from the Netherlands,” the body states.
The Dutch initiative follows the collapse of passenger capacity after the drastic blanket global travel restrictions imposed by governments worldwide due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
“Under LR2, the number of slots available for re-allocation was limited and the ability for re-allocation was inflexible,” explains an ACNL statement.
Unused slots which have been handed back to the slots co-ordinator by passenger carriers are now first being offered on an ad hoc basis to full freighter operators.
ACNL is a neutral, independent non-profit organisation financed by home-based carriers and level 3 airports, where the transport demand of airlines often exceeds the airport capacity for significant periods.
Bart Pouwels, head of cargo at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, observes: “In these difficult times, it is important that we work together to ensure that the supply chain keeps moving.
“The lifting of LR2 will enable us to temporarily operate more ad hoc full-freighter flights at AMS, which is much needed to offset the current decline in belly [hold] capacity.”
Schiphol is Europe’s fourth largest air cargo hub and handled 1.57 million tonnes of airfreight last year.
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GATEWAYS like Amsterdam Schiphol Airport should secure sufficient slots for freighters as they are poised to shoulder a disproportionately high portion of global traffic for the coming two years or more
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Slots Op Schiphol
GATEWAYS like Amsterdam Schiphol Airport should secure sufficient slots for freighters as they are poised to shoulder a disproportionately high portion of global traffic for the coming two years or more.
This will require a collective effort by the air cargo community to make the case for airfreight, highlighting its importance to the national economy.
These were two major conclusions of a webinar organised jointly by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Air Cargo Netherlands which represents the different stakeholders in the country.
The event harnessed input from several observers to explore the outlook for the post-Covid-19 air cargo industry. The economic framework looks moderately encouraging, according to Rico Luman, senior economist at ING.
His organisation expects a 4.3 per cent contraction in the global economy this year, followed by 3.6 per cent growth in 2021; while single-digit declines in major economic zones will give way to expansion in the mid-single-digit range next year.
But 2021 will not bring a full return to pre-Covid levels, Mr Luman noted, adding that the global economy should recover faster than it did in the aftermath of the financial meltdown of 2008/09.
'We think we've hit bottom and are opening up again and I think we will recover from now on - at least, if we don't get a second large outbreak. We also see improvement in the PMI,' he said.
There is broad agreement that the passenger business will take several years to return to pre-pandemic levels, which has boosted the percentage of cargo volume carried by freighters. And although passenger flights are beginning to pick up, the Holland International Distribution Council expects freighters to take more market share, said its CEO, Remco Buurman.
'Belly freighters' have carried a considerable share of global airfreight, but 'we do not see 'belly freighters' as a sustainable solution in the longer term', confirmed Floris de Haan, aviation researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
'At this stage, we cannot tell exactly when 'belly freighter' activities will stop flying into Schiphol, although we have seen a reduction in the number being flown in recent weeks,' said Bart Pouwels, the airport's head of cargo, according to The Loadstar, UK.
Some freighter operators said in recent weeks they felt Schiphol had not taken their needs seriously. Nevertheless, major gateways like Schiphol are positioned to handle a larger share of cargo. In the absence of point-to-point connections linking second-tier airports, flows are going to be consolidated, Mr de Haan noted.
As passenger traffic builds, steps should be taken to ensure Schiphol has sufficient slots available for all-cargo operations, he said, adding: 'It is important to have slot protection for freighters to ensure a balance of belly and main deck capacity.'
The shortage of available slots for freighters at Schiphol before the outbreak was, to a considerable extent, the result of unexpectedly rapid growth of low-cost airline activities. Although one of the first casualties of the pandemic was low-cost Flybe, it remains unclear how this segment will fare compared to legacy carriers.
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