In association with the international consulting firm, Mott MacDonald, Oxford Economic Research Associates (Oxera) and Hugh O’Donovan, a leading aviation lawyer who is a member of Quadrant Chambers in the Temple, Keith Boyfield Associates won a competitive tender in late 2005 to advise the Energy & Transport Directorate of the European Commission on the potential impact of introducing secondary slot trading at congested European airports.
This year-long research project was undertaken in order to provide the Commission with expert professional advice on the possible benefits and disbenefits likely to flow from the introduction of a secondary market in slot (i.e. landing and take-offs) trading at congested airports, such as Milan Linate and Paris Charles de Gaulle. In this context, Keith Boyfield was able to draw on two decades of experience analysing the civil aviation sector, having first acted as a consultant to the BAA in the mid 1980s. More recently, Keith was the editor of an influential IEA study on A Market in Airport Slots, published in 2003.
One of the key contributions Keith Boyfield made to this research project and report for the European Commission was a detailed assessment of the experience of secondary slot trading at congested airports in the USA, notably New York La Guardia, Chicago O’Hare and Ronald Reagan Washington National. Based on this analysis, the report sets out a number of important findings with regard to the potential impact of adopting secondary slot trading mechanisms at congested airports within the EU.
The European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy & Transport published the final report and supporting volume of appendices in January 2007. This consultants’ study will be used as the basis for the Commission’s proposals on adopting a variety of market mechanisms to improve the efficient use of slots at congested airports, as well as the promotion of competition between airlines wishing to operate scheduled services from these airports. In due course, draft legislation on the revision of the existing EC Slot Regulation 95/93 governing slot allocation at Community airports will be presented to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers for further consideration. |
