Europe's airport slot rules may soon result in empty or near-empty planes flying long distances around the world to preserve landing rights at EU's major airports.
The rules, that require airlines to "use it or lose it" for the limited numbers of allowed take-offs and landings, were relaxed last year during the pandemic both because of the need to save airline funds and to not needlessly generate excess greenhouse gases.
But now, EU authorities have announced that the rules will be partially re-imposed for the fall and winter season, with a requirement that at least 50% of the slots be used through next March.
While airline demand in Europe internally is probably enough to allow most European airlines to make that standard, the situation is different for overseas airlines, especially in countries that have not fully resumed operations. For example, Australia still bans its residents from leaving the country.
Numbers of airlines, therefore, obviously including Qantas, may be forced to fly empty flights at significant cost to avoid losing the ability to serve European airports when they have passengers again.
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