(Reuters) – Europe’s airline slot rules should not be changed to protect legacy companies, the head of European low cost carrier Wizz Air said on Thursday, adding that if a carrier cannot operate their slots they should be made available to rivals.
The easing of the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule has allowed legacy carriers to preserve airport access during the coronavirus crisis despite a sharp drop in traffic, sparking protests from low-cost rivals keen to expand into once-congested airports.
“Leave the slot rules as they used to be prior to the pandemic and the market will sort it out,” Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi told Reuters in an interview in Abu Dhabi.
“Why are they protected for the benefit of legacy carriers who are incapable of operating them because they are inefficient?,” he said, adding that it distorted the market because other carriers like Wizz could operate the slots.
Under EU airport rules, airlines must use at least 80% of their take-off and landing slots in order to keep them the following year.
The EU suspended these rules at the start of the COVID-19 crisis but has started partially restoring them, rekindling concerns over empty flights as the pandemic lingers.
(Reporting Alexander Cornwell; editing by David Evans and Keith Weir)
