Slot allocation and airport scheduling
Article 2
1. Article 1(a) shall apply only if the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) the consultations are open to all air carriers having expressed an interest in the slots which are the subject of the consultations; (b) rules of priority are established and applied without discrimination, whether direct or indirect, on the grounds of carrier identity, nationality or category of service, which take into account constraints or air traffic distribution rules laid down by competent national or international authorities and give due consideration to the needs of the travelling publics and of the airport concerned; subject to point (c), such rules of priority may take account of rights acquired by air carriers through the use of particular slots in the previous corresponding season; (c) slots are allocated to new entrants, as defined in Article 2(b) of Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 as follows: (i) at Community airports, a 50 % share of newly created or unused slots and slots which have been given up by a carrier during or by the end of the season or which otherwise become available to enable new entrants to be able to compete effectively with established carriers on routes to/from the airport in question; the share allocated to new entrants may be less than 50 % if requests by new entrants represent less than 50 % of all applications for such new slots; (ii) at third country airports, a sufficient share of such available slots for entry at congested airports to remain possible on routes between such airports and points located in the Community; (d) the rules of priority, once established, are made available on request to any interested party; (e) air carriers participating in the consultations have access, at the time of the consultations at the latest, to information relating to: (i) historical slots by air carrier, in chronological order, for all air carriers at the airport; (ii) requested slots (initial submissions) by air carrier, in chronological order, for all air carriers; (iii) allocated slots, and outstanding slot requests listed individually in chronological order, by air carrier, for all air carriers; (iv) remaining slots available; (v) full details of the criteria used in the allocation; (f) if a request for slots is not accepted, the air carrier concerned is entitled to a statement of the reasons therefor. 2. The Commission and the Member States concerned shall be entitled to send observers to consultations on slot allocation and airport scheduling held in the context of a multilateral meeting in advance of each season. For this purpose, air carriers shall give the Member States concerned and the Commission the same notice as is given to participants of the date, venue and subject matter of the consultations. The notice given to the Member States concerned and to the Commission shall not be less than 10 days. Such notice shall be given: (a) to the Member States concerned according to procedures to be established by the competent authorities of those Member States; (b) to the Commission according to procedures to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .