Air transport: slots at Community airports and competition (amend. Regulation (EEC) No 95/93)

PURPOSE : to allocated slots at Community airports. LEGISLATIVE ACT : Regulation 1554/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation 95/93/EEC on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. CONTENT : the war launched in March 2003 against Iraq and the political developments that followed, as well as the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), have seriously affected the air transport operations of air carriers and have triggered a significant reduction in demand in the beginning of the summer 2003 scheduling season. In order to make sure that the non-utilisation of slots allocated for the 2003 season does not cause air carriers to lose their entitlement to those slots, it is necessary to provide clearly and unambiguously that the 2003 and 2004 scheduling seasons are adversely affected by the war and the SARS outbreak. As a consequence, the Council, with the Spanish delegation voting against and the Danish and Swedish abstaining, adopted the Regulation amending Council Regulation 95/93/EEC on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. This amendment will enable airlines to deal with a drop in demand created by the war in Iraq and the SARS virus. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 05/09/2003.�