Rules surrounding airport slots have been temporarily suspended by the Department for Transport (DfT) to avoid more of the last-minute cancellations that are currently plaguing the sector.
Airlines will be given a short window, described as an ‘amnesty’, to hand back any take-off and landing slots they feel they will not be able to operate during the busy summer period.
Previously, the government had demanded airlines put on a full flight schedule, adding they must fly 70% of their flight slots at airports or lose them.
"This will help passengers find alternative arrangements ahead of time, rather than face the kind of last-minute cancellations seen over the Easter and half-term holidays," a spokesperson said, quoted in Sky News.
Airports slots are bought by airlines to operate their schedules but can lose them to competitors if they do not use them and fail to maintain their obligations to airports and passengers.
Airlines giving up slots some time in advance, as opposed to last-minute cancellations, may open the opportunities for rivals to take up the spaces left behind.
For example, easyJet and British Airways have been some of the biggest offenders in recent weeks, with easyJet announcing releasing it will be forced to cancel thousands of flights this summer.
The amnesty announcement potentially, therefore, gives Ryanair an opportunity to take those allocations, possibly for the long term.
However, according to John Strickland, director at air transport consultancy JLS Consulting, the measures introduced are very much a temporary stance.
“Slots are immensely valuable to the airlines that use them.”
“Currently it is more a case of relief that the pressure to use under very challenging circumstances rather than for any airline to seek opportunistic use if the capacity which is freed up.”