After over 36 months, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in late 2019, the suspended slot rules in the Brazilian airports have finally been restored. The government of Brazil has decided to restore the 80/20 regulation for the winter season falling between 30th October 2022 to 25th March 2023.
Slot rules
In the preceding week, ANAC(National Civil Aviation) Brazil expressed its intent to monitor the slots at the airports and resume the 80/20 regulations for the upcoming winters. These rules will apply to local-bound flights restoring like pre-pandemic time will follow, marking the end of the pandemic relaxation.
On the other hand, for international flights, there is still shielding from 80/20 regulations, as per ANAC. With the slowdown in Brazil’s international flight scene, this relaxation continues for the upcoming winter season. The necessary condition is that timings are from the significant slots. And airlines to return them a week before the reference base.
As per Aeroin local reports, the airline that will use the relaxation will be able to re-apply for the international slot after a month and will be subject to the infrastructure availability.
What do you mean by the 80/20 regulation?
Slots in the airports are for managing their capacity globally. They are valuable and priced high. The 80/20 regulation directs airlines must use them eighty percent of the time to retain rights for it the following year. The rule implies making the best use of the available capacity so that it’s not limited to one operator only.
The travel restrictions that followed the Covid-19 pandemic bought a challenging situation with it. To relax airlines from unnecessary load, the government exempted the 80/20 regulations. Steadily as normalcy is returning globally, governments are keen on restoring the 80/20 regulations- the latest on the list to do so is Brazil.
IATA Concerns
IATA(International Air Transport Association) has demonstrated its concern relating the resumption of slots to the pre-pandemic level will interfere with airport traffic. The European Commission has announced restoring its 80/20 regulations in the upcoming winters. It has worked fine in managing airport access chaos at certain European airports due to the using a sixty-four percent threshold capacity, according to IATA, Brazil.
IATA’s Director General has expressed its concern about the capacity of the airports to follow the 80/20 regulations by October, as the limit set by the government. He has stressed the fact- that the government must plan to bring about a realistic plan.
