1st Edition
Airport Slots International Experiences and Options for Reform
Over the past several decades, commercial air traffic has been growing at a far greater rate than airport capacity, causing airports to become increasingly congested. How can we accommodate this increased traffic and at the same time alleviate traffic delays resulting from congestion? The response outside the US has been to set a maximum number of slots and use administrative procedures to allocate these among competing airlines, with the most important consideration being 'grandfather rights' to existing carriers. The United States, on the other hand, has used administrative procedures to allocate slots at only four airports. In all other cases, flights have been handled on a first-come, first-served basis, with aircraft queuing for the privilege of landing or taking off from a congested airport. While recognizing the advantages of slot systems in lessening delays, economists have criticized both approaches as being sub-optimal, and have advocated procedures such as slot auctions, peak-load pricing and slot trading to better utilize congested airports. Edited by an international team of air transport economists and drawing on an impressive list of contributors, Airport Slots provides an extremely comprehensive treatment of the subject. It considers the methods currently used to allocate slots and applies economic analysis to each. The book then explains various schemes to increase public welfare by taxing or pricing congestion, and describes alternate slot-allocation schemes, most notably slot auctions. In addition, Airport Slots outlines the complexities involved in slot-allocation methods, including the requirement for multiple slots - a take-off slot at London Heathrow is useless unless there is a landing slot available at Frankfurt for a London Frankfurt flight. Finally, the book explores the economic pitfalls of slot-allocation schemes; for example, controls may not be required if external delay costs are internalized by a dominant carrier at its hub. Airport Slots provides a valuable contribution to the debate on how best to limit airport congestion. The book's comprehensive treatment of the subject matter provides the reader with a 'one-stop' volume to explore airport congestion and slot-allocation schemes, offering valuable insights to academics and practitioners alike.
Biography
Achim I. Czerny is a Research Associate at the Workgroup for Infrastructure Policy of Berlin University of Technology, Berlin, Germany. Professor Peter Forsyth is a Lecturer at the Department of Economics at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. David Gillen is YVR Professor of Transportation Policy, Operations and Logistics Division at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Professor Dr Hans-Martin Niemeier is a Lecturer at the Department of Nautical Sciences and International Economics at the University of Applied Science, Bremen, Germany.
'Slot reform has been on the agenda for a long time. But with increasing congestion at more airports highlighting the need to make the best use of an ever scarcer resource, this book is a timely reminder of both the complexity of the subject and the need for practical solutions. It is likely to become a standard work of reference and source of ideas for many years.' Harry Bush, CAA, UK 'In aviation, productive assets are allocated to particular uses through a combination of price signals and quantitative rules; an example of the latter are the regulations that assign runway slots to airlines at busy airports. This book is a comprehensive collection of papers, the latest in a high-quality series from the GARS, which considers the scope to substitute price mechanisms for slot allocation rules. The papers illustrate the concern of economists that a consequence of prices being fixed is that the economy may be harmed.' Cathal Guiomard, Commissioner for Aviation Regulation, Ireland 'This book is imbued with the very best expertise on air traffic and airport slots, offering both micro- and macroeconomic approaches. It is a must-read for everyone involved in slot allocation aviation industry and transportation science.' Thomas Immelmann, Commercial Director, Hamburg Airport 'In summary, Airport Slots provides a very valuable addition to the debate on how best to accommodate airport congestion. The book's comprehensive treatment of the subject matter provides the interested reader with a "one-stop" volume to explore airport congestion and slot allocation schemes. The volume is well-organized and the chapters are plainly written, allowing the book to offer valuable insights to academics and practitioners, alike. ' Martin Dresner 'Overall, the book is a very profound and comprehensive compilation of well-written contributions. The subject is examined in great detail as well, not only from an economic point of view but also from a legal perspective. The book is th
