Using slot management to optimise airport operational utilisation

The growing demand from airlines for airport capacity poses a real challenge to airport managers. Hence, smart solutions enabling current airport infrastructures to render maximum performance have taken a leading role. One of the principal processes guaranteeing the operative efficiency of an airport is slot management and coordination. Landing and take-off time frames are the key factors determining entry and exit airport traffic, so their management is strategic. Coordinating, optimising, detecting dysfunctions, applying the corrective measures necessary to resolve problems, and planning efficiently based on the varying needs of winter and summer seasons are essential airport functions. This paper shows how efficient slot management can improve the use of airport capacity, enabling one and the same infrastructure to attract new operations; liberate capacity for the distribution of the demand for operations based on airline records and needs; promote competition among airlines to comply with the slots assigned; and facilitate better management of the air traffic burden, through close collaboration in data sharing between the airport and air navigation authorities. All this is shown through a real case, such as that experienced by RIOgaleão Airport in Brazil, which faced the need to increase its capacity to meet the growing demand induced from its hosting of the Olympic Games in 2016.