Monitoring on 80% usage of series of slots during night time

In the Working Procedure S17 Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL) has announced in article 4.1 that starting W17 the 80% usage of series of slots in the night time will be monitored. ACNL wishes to clarify this change in respect of the current way of operating and the possible impact for airlines.
The Council Regulation (EC) No 95/93, as amended, is leading for the allocation of slots by ACNL. This Regulation stipulates in article 10, paragraph 2 that at least 80% of the slots which have been allocated to an airline have to be operated to be entitled to the same series of slots (80/20 rule) in the next equivalent scheduling period.

Until now, ACNL has been monitoring the 80% usage of series of slots only in the day time. Although not in line with the Council Regulation, this practice did not seem to be problematic for the night time until S17. However it could be argued that monitoring on 80% usage of total number of slots instead of series of slots might be discriminatory because it is easier for airlines to hold the entitlement to historic slots. Moreover, in the capacity declaration for S17 a planning limit has been added for the total number of departures and arrivals. Continuation of the current way of operating may lead to exceeding of the planning limit.

Therefore, ACNL will start to strictly monitor the usage of slots during night time in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 95/93, as amended, article 10, paragraphs 2 and 4. By doing so, close monitoring of the 80% usage of series of slots during the night time may help to not exceed the planning limit. Airlines may evaluate the impact of this monitoring of the 80% usage of series of slots through www.e-airportslots.aero and warn and note messages sent by ACNL.