IATA director general Willie Walsh has hit out at continued uncertainty over European Commission plans for airport slot rules this winter, amid concerns the strong uptick in summer capacity will prompt too high a threshold for minimum use levels being set. European regulators temporarily suspended the existing 'use it or lose it' airport slots rules – which require airlines to operate 80% of slots in a season to retain them for the following year – when the pandemic first hit last summer. That alleviation continued last winter and again this summer, albeit with a requirement for airlines to operate 50% of their slots to retain them for summer 2022. The Commission is still to formally publish proposals for the coming northern hemisphere winter season, which begins at the end of October. European transport commissioner Adina Valean told delegates at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Summit last month that it was still evaluating the data before deciding on the levels. But in a blog post, Walsh hits out at the European Commission's approach to the issue and raises concerns that it is looking at implementing a 60% threshold for the coming winter season. "Clearly when demand is down 80%, greater flexibility is required – otherwise, unnecessary flights to destinations where demand is nonexistent will occur. This is why for the first year of the crisis the 80-20 rule was suspended. And to reinstate a significant threshold now, above say 30%, would be a clear policy failure. Yet that is the prospect facing the industry today," Walsh says. "The principal architect of this potential slot policy failure is once again the European Commission. Since the beginning of the crisis they have dragged their feet on providing swift, unambiguous slot relief, which is a recognised and completely standard response in times of temporary demand crisis," he says, crediting the European Council and Parliament for ensuring airlines have had the ability to make early slot returns this summer. Traffic activity within Europe has begun to climb as Covid travel restrictions within the European Union have been eased. Eurocontrol data for the first four days in July shows a further rise in average daily flights in the region, to over 22,000, and in flight activity for the period, representing 63% of pre-crisis levels. But Walsh cautions it is too early to draw conclusions from this improvement that it will be repeated over this coming winter season. "The Commission, threatening to insist on a 60% slot use threshold for the winter without the ability to make early slot returns, is reading far too much into a temporary summer bump in intra-EU traffic," he says. "Even if the summer reaches the traffic levels the Commission supposes, it is far from certain that this improvement will be maintained into the winter. Equally important is the fact that much of the traffic relevant to slot-constrained airports is long-haul traffic. This is at present set to be even lower than the feeble levels reached last winter, a period during which a full waiver of the slot rules was agreed." Some carriers, notably fast-expanding European low-cost carrier Wizz Air, have argued waiving the slot rules has prevented them from fully expanding at slot-constrained airports in Europe. Walsh though argues this is a "smokescreen". He says: "Under the current rules and situation, new carriers claims for access to airports are being met. The bottom line is that over the last 20 years route numbers have doubled, while prices have halved, during a period of minimal airport capacity growth." A European Commission official notes the slot use rate is still subject to a decision by the College of Commissioners, and that it is aware that airlines face low demand and uncertainties. "These elements, among others, are being assessed. Our goal is to ensure that airport capacity can be used efficiently for the benefit of all airlines and passengers."

BOC Aviation has delivered the seventh and final new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft on lease to TUI's UK subsidiary TUI Travel Aviation Finance. All aircraft are powered by CFM International Leap-1B engines, the Singapore-based lessor says in a 5 July press release. “Following the international recertification of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, we delivered all seven aircraft to TUI in just four months, which reflects a high level of teamwork on both sides," states BOC Aviation managing director and chief executive Robert Martin. "We look forward to developing our relationship with TUI further and remain committed to providing our customers with large scale financing solutions as well as technologically advanced aircraft.” TUI Group managing director, fleet and asset management Tom Chandler states: "We are very pleased to have expanded our relationship with BOC Aviation through these financing transactions, agreed in two tranches August 2020 and October 2020, with the completion of the deliveries in time for the peak summer season." He adds: “We look forward to other opportunities to work with BOC Aviation in future. These additional Boeing 737 Max aircraft are a valuable addition to our fleet, characterised by considerably lower fuel consumption and noise emissions than the aircraft that they replace. This contributes to our aim to reduce the environmental impact of holidays and to maintain our top ranking among the world’s most carbon-efficient airlines.”

The European Commission "has doubts" about a proposed restructuring plan for Tarom, under which the Romanian government would provide €190 million ($226 million) of funding and write off the carrier's prior €36.7 million rescue-aid debt. EU regulators have opened an "in-depth investigation" to assess whether the proposed Romanian support measures are in line with the bloc's state-aid rules. As part of the proposed restructuring plan, says the Commission, Tarom would renew its fleet and streamline its operations using €190 million of public funding from the Romanian government. This would take the form of a capital injection, a direct subsidy and a debt write-off of the €36.7 million of rescue aid that was approved as a temporary loan by European regulators early last year. "In order for restructuring aid to be approved, the plan must ensure that the viability of the company can be restored without continued state support, that the company contributes sufficiently to the costs of its restructuring, and that distortions of competition created by the aid are addressed through compensatory measures, including in particular structural measures," states the Commission. At this stage, it adds, "the Commission has doubts that the proposed restructuring plan and the aid to support it satisfy the conditions of the guidelines". As such, an investigation will be carried out to determine whether Tarom would "sufficiently contribute" to its restructuring costs, whether the plan can restore the airline's long-term viability, and whether there would be "appropriate measures to limit the distortions of competition". Wizz Air on 5 December brought action against the Commission's February 2020 decision to approve the €36.7 million state loan for Tarom. In documents filed with the European General Court, Wizz Air called for the decision to be annulled on the grounds that the rescue aid was not compatible with the Commission's rescue and restructuring guidelines.