Ryanair in court challenge to slot co-ordination move

RYANAIR has begun High Court proceeding to have the decision to introduce slot co-ordination at Dublin Airport overturned.

Slot co-ordination, which give airlines allocated set times to operate services,replaces the previous system of airlines agreeing times among themselves.

The decision to make Dublin Airport coordinated was announced by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) last month.

The CAR wants to introduce slot coordination from March 25 until late October to prevent more delays for passengers using Dublin Airport. If airlines do not keep to their landing and take-off slots they risk losing them altogether.

But Ryanair insisted yesterday that change was not necessary.

“This is a further indication that the CAR is not serious about regulating the Dublin Airport monopoly. The fact that Dublin Airport already has two runways and is only handling 20 million passengers per annum whereas Gatwick is handling 40 million on one runway makes this latest decision a complete nonsense,” the airline’s head of regulatory affairs Jim Callaghan said yesterday.