A significant improvement in congestion at Dublin airport is expected to result from a new system of slot co-ordination approved yesterday by the aviation regulator Bill Prasifka.
Under the changes, Dublin airport will become what is known as a "co-ordinated airport" next year, meaning airlines will only be allowed take off after being given a mandatory slot by an official co-ordinator.
At present, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and other airlines operate according to a voluntary system of slot allocation. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has been trying to change this arrangement for some years so that aircraft movements can be spread out during peak periods. A spokesman for the DAA said the move was to be welcomed and should help to reduce delays.
Mr Prasifka last year asked the consultancy firm Alan Stratford and Associates to carry out a full review of the issue. But, in October, it was decided not to make the airport co-ordinated.
However the report said, if there was an increase in transatlantic traffic from Dublin, this would have to be reviewed. It also said if airlines constantly refused to adjust their schedules when requested it would also trigger a review.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Prasifka said the number of times airlines had refused to adjust scheduled take-off times had increased 100 per cent in 2005 compared to last year. He said, based on this pattern, the airport would become fully co-ordinated by next summer.
The director of Dublin airport, Robert Hilliard, said co-ordinated airports were better able to manage the peak arrival and departure times of aircraft, thereby "easing some of the pressure on passenger facilities at those peak periods".
It is not clear at this point whether airlines will be able to trade the slots they are given under the new arrangements. At other airports, like London Heathrow, a grey slots market exists.
Under accountancy rules, the value of these slots cannot be included in the balance sheets of airlines, because they do not technically own the slots. It is unlikely at present that slots at Dublin airport would be worth large sums, said aviation sources.
