UK gives airlines a waiver on airport slots to ease travel chaos

The UK will give airlines a waiver from rules requiring them to use airport slots or lose them, allowing them to pull some capacity in a bid to stem the recent travel chaos.

The Department for Transport said it would offer an amnesty on takeoff and landing slot regulations, which mandate airlines use them or forfeit them in the next season, in order for them to “make sensible decisions” about schedules. 

Airlines and airports across Europe and particularly the UK have seen hours-long lines and last-minute cancellations as they struggle to build up staffing numbers after workforces were slashed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week London’s Gatwick airport said it would would scrap hundreds of flights over the peak summer travel period to