Slot coordination and schedules facilitation

This mechanism relies on the allocation to air carriers of « permission[s] […] to use the full range of airport infrastructure necessary to operate an air service at a coordinated airport on a specific date and time for the purpose of landing or take-off », named « slots ». Slot allocation is achieved through neutral, transparent and non-discriminatory rules implemented by an independant entity appointed by each Member State called a « coordinator ».

For EU airports where potential for congestion is concentrated on very specific time windows and amenable to resolution through voluntary cooperation between air carriers, the Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93 offers a lighter mecanism named « schedules facilitation ». A schedules facilitator is therefore appointed to facilitate the operations of air carriers by recommanding them relevant times to operate their air services.

Before designating an airport as coordinated, the Member State shall ensure that a thorough analysis on the airport capacity has been carried out. This analysis may also be requested by the European Commission or the airport operator managing body or by air carriers representing more than half of the operations at the airport.
In that context, the Member State shall determine « coordination or schedules facilitation parameters ». These are metrics defining the airport capacity limits through maximum numbers of slots that may be allocated.

French airports concerned

French coordinated airports :

• Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airports

• Nice-Côte d’Azur airport

• Figari – Sud-Corse airport

• Cannes-Mandelieu airport

• Nantes-Atlantique airport (for summer aeronautical seasons)

French schedules facilitated airports

• Annecy-Meythet airport

• Chambéry-Aix-les-Bains airport

• Nantes-Atlantique airport (for winter aeronautical seasons)

• Lyon-Saint-Exupéry  airport

• Basel-Mulhouse airport

French appointed coordinator and schedules facilitator

The COHOR association has been appointed to achieve the slot coordination and schedules facilitation tasks on concerned French airports in compliance with Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93 and national requirements also applicable to any would-be coordinator or schedules facilitator designated on a French airport.

French airports coordination committee (Comité de coordination des aéroports français - CCAF)

Interested parties (air carriers using the platform, managing bodies of the concerned airports, concerned Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP)) take part in a coordination committee mainly tasked « to make proposals or advise the coordinator and/or the Member State » on how to improve capacity at concerned airports and « to mediate between all parties concerned ».

Created in compliance with article 5 of the Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93, the « French coordination committee (– Comité de coordination des aéroports français – CCAF –) » may achieve these tasks itself or through executive committees created within the CCAF.

The Ministerial Order of September 28, 2004 sets the coordination committee composition, tasks and running rules.

Executive committees

Six executive committees have been created within the French airports coordination committee (CCAF) to address local capacity issues on the following airports:

• Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle
• Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Chambéry - Aix-les-Bains and Annecy-Meythet
• Nice-Côte d’Azur and Cannes-Mandelieu
• Figari-Sud-Corse
• Nantes-Atlantique
• Bâle-Mulhouse

The composition of the executive committees for coordinated and facilitated airports and of the sub-committee in charge of monitoring the use of slots has been established by ministerial order following the January 2023 CCAF meeting :

In addition to the elected members, air carriers and air carrier associations that are regular users of the coordinated or facilitated airport concerned may take part in the Executive Committees of the airports concerned as observers.

The Executive Committees of the coordinated and facilitated airports for the summer season (S) of year N+1 are held in September of year N and the Executive Committees for the winter season (W) of year N are held in March of year N.

To find out the exact dates of the Executive Committees or to take part in the Executive Committee meetings as observers, air carriers and air carrier associations that are regular users of coordinated and facilitated airports are invited to contact the DGAC via the e-mail address dta-ccaf-bf@aviation-civile.gouv.fr no later than the first week of September for the summer season Executive Committees and the first week of March for the winter season Executive Committees.

CCAF plenary assemblies

The CCAF meets annually in plenary assembly. The next plenary assembly of the French Airports Coordination Committee (CCAF) will be held on :

Friday the 17th of January 2025
from 9h30 to 12h
at 50 rue Henry Farman,
75015 Paris
(and via Teams)

Registration here (deadline 10th of January 2025)

In addition to the members of the Executive Committees listed below, any air carrier or air carrier association regularly using the coordinated or facilitated airports is invited to participate.

List of Executive Committees for coordinated and facilitated airports:

• Paris-Orly et Paris-Charles de Gaulle
• Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Chambéry - Aix-les-Bains et Annecy-Meythet
• Nice-Côte d’Azur et Cannes-Mandelieu
• Figari-Sud-Corse
• Nantes-Atlantique
• Bâle-Mulhouse

Air carriers and associations of air carriers regular users of French coordinated and facilitated airports wishing to take part in the CCAF plenary meeting are invited to send an e-mail to dta-ccaf-bf@aviation-civile.gouv.fr at least 1 week before the date of the meeting.

The composition of the executive committees for coordinated and facilitated airports and of the sub-committee in charge of monitoring the use of slots has been established by ministerial order following the January 2023 CCAF meeting :

• Order of January 16th, 2023 fixing the composition of the Executive Committees and Sub-Committees of the French Airports Coordination Committee (in French only)

We recall that the missions of the Executive Committees created are specified in article 6 of the decree of September, 28th 2004 :

For further information, the rules of procedure detailing the functioning of the CCAF are available below.

The last two plenary assemblies’ reports are available underneath :

Airports coordinated on exceptional basis

In the case of certain events,in accordance with Article 3.6 of Regulation (EEC) No. 95/93, the airports affected by these events may be qualified as coordinated airports by the Member State on an exceptional basis.

Commissioning of 4-Flight at Paris ACC

As part of its modernisation programme, the Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne (DSNA - French ATC) will be commissioning a new "4-Flight" control system at Paris ACC. In view of the particular nature of this ACC, which is mainly responsible for flights in the Paris region, a reduction in programmes will be necessary at the airports concerned during the commissioning of 4-Flight.

In keeping with the live trials, in particular the one for the period from the 9th of January to the 14th of February 2024 inclusive, the final commissioning of the new control system, scheduled for the autumn 2024, will require some airports to be coordinated on an exceptional basis. In addition to Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports, which are already coordinated, Paris-Le Bourget and Beauvais-Tillé airports will be coordinated at this occasion.

Consultations with users of Beauvais-Tillé and Paris-Le Bourget airports are scheduled for the 21st of May and the 6th of June 2024 respectively. To register, contact dta-ccaf-bf@aviation-civile.gouv.fr.

Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

A major event such as the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games requires precise and, as far as possible, anticipated management of the problems associated with the high air traffic demand generated at the airports located near the competition locations.

Since 2022, the DGAC leads a working group called "GT Aérien" dedicated to the specific challenges of the Olympic Games for air traffic and its management, one of the sub-groups of which is dedicated to the management of demand and additional capacity required by air navigation services and airports.

Exceptional airport coordination is put in place:

• Paris-Le Bourget airport ;
• Beauvais-Tillé airport ;
• Marseille-Provence airport ;
• Lille-Lesquin airport.

Additional coordination parameters are defined for some airports that are already coordinated or facilitated, particularly Paris airports.
Fundamental principles must be respected:

• Anticipation of requests for non-scheduled flights;
• Submission of requests in turnaround format;
• Maximum turnaround time, where applicable;
• Validation by the airport of the available capacity.

In addition, restrictive security measures will be put in place around the Paris region during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will have an impact on air traffic.

The exact measures and periods of restrictions are specified in dedicated aeronautical information publications (SUP AIP and AIC).

Sanctions for infringements to slot regulation requirements

Sanctions framework

A framework defining sanctions for the inappropriate use of an allocated slot has been established in the French national regulation in compliance with article 14(5) of the Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93.

Generally, sanctions for such infringements are pronounced by the French Minister in charge of Civil Aviation who relies on advice from the French Civil Aviation administrative commission (– Commission administrative de l’aviation civile – CAAC –). R. 6231-1 to 28 of the French transport code sets the sanctions framework running in this general case.

In order to avoid such sanctions, air carriers are invited to ensure that their slot request has been properly sent and received for each flight departing from or arriving at a French coordinated airport -even for last minute launched flights-.

Sanctions pronounced by the French Minister in charge of Civil Aviation

In accordance with the provisions of articles R. 6231-1 to 28 of the French Transport Code, the Minister in charge of civil aviation is authorised to impose administrative fines on an air carrier or any other aircraft operator that does not comply with:

• the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports ;
• the provisions of Article R. 6321-21.

The identified infringements are notified to each air carrier by the French Civil Aviation Authority (– Direction générale de l’aviation civile – DGAC –).

According to the observations provided to the DGAC, the air carrier may be heard by the French Civil Aviation administrative commission (– Commission administrative de l’aviation civile – CAAC –) which subsequently advises the Minister in charge of Civil Aviation on the penalty for each infringement..

The amount of the corresponding administrative penalties can rise up to 7,500 € per infringement and 15,000€ in the case of repeat offences.

A decision of sanction is notified to the air carrier that committed the infringement and then an extract of the decision is published on the Ministry's website for a period of two years from the date on which it becomes effective.

Recent sanctions:

Sanctions pronounced by the ACNUSA

Take-offs operated without an appropriate departure slot between 00:00 and 04:59 (local time) at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport constitute a specific infringement for which, in compliance with the environmental regulation (mentioned below), the Airport Pollution Control Authority (– Autorité de contrôle des nuisances aéroportuaires – ACNUSA –) is empowered to sanction the air carrier operating the flight.

Sanctions are imposed as administrative penalties, the amount of which can rise up to 40,000 € per infringement.

More information about the ACNUSA on:

Slot coordination or schedules facilitation service fee for French airports

A coordination fee is defined in articles R. 6321-22 to 29 of the French Transport Code. It supersedes the coordinator’s former funding system which was relying on voluntary subscriptions paid by the 10 main French air carriers and the three managing bodies of the  coordinated airports.

The fee covers material and labour costs arising from slot coordination or schedules facilitation tasks assigned to the appointed coordinator or schedules facilitator by the French minister in charge of civil aviation. Any other activities of the coordinator or schedules facilitator are not covered by this fee.

Articles R. 6321-22 to 29 of the French Transport Code set up two implementation cases; the main one concerns all French airports which are usually schedules facilitated or coordinated while the derogation one deals with those airports that are schedule facilitated or coordinated on « exceptional circumstances » as described in article 3(6) of the Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93.

In the main case:

• the airport managing body and the air carrier operating at that airport equally share the cost recovery through the payment of the same slot service fee per landing,
• the air carriers’ share is collected by the airport managing body on behalf of the coordinator or schedules facilitator,
• the level of the slot service fee is set by the minister in charge of civil aviation: the French coordination committee advises the minister on a tariff proposal made by the appointed coordinator or schedules facilitator. Should the committee agree with the proposal, the proposed slot service fee is then approved as proposed by the minister.

The derogation case applies to situations for which the traffic is unpredictable (as for sports special events for instance). In such situations, it is difficult to accurately determine a slot service fee which would cover all these costs so the main case framework cannot be applied. Therefore in « exceptional circumstances » as described in article 3(6) of the Council regulation (EEC) n°95/93:

• the global cost to be covered for the associated slot coordination or schedules facilitation services is determined by the minister in charge of civil aviation on the basis of a proposal made by the appointed coordinator or the schedules facilitator;
• the air carriers operating on that airport during this exceptional circumstance pay a slot service fee per landing collected by the airport managing body on behalf of the coordinator or schedules facilitator,
• the concerned airport managing body shall cover the remaining part of the costs which  corresponds to the global service cost as approved by the minister reduced by total amount paid by all air carriers.

4 ministerial orders of February 22, 2017 meet the decree requirements and establish a process (steps, methods and associated deadlines) to determine, publish and enforce the slot service fees.

According to a decision dated February 8, 2024, the following tariffs relating to the charge for the slot coordination or schedules facilitation services rendered on French airports, as proposed by COHOR association, are approved:

1. For French coordinated or schedules facilitated airports respectively listed in appendices I et II of  French ministerial order of February 22, 2017 designating COHOR as the coordinator or schedules facilitator on French airports:

• 1,95 € per landing for the operating air carrier,
• 1,95 € per landing for the airport managing body,

2. For airports designated as coordinated or schedules facilitated airports under exceptional circumstances:

• 1,95 € per landing for the operating air carrier.

The approved tariffs are enforceable from April 1st, 2024. They shall remain in force until new tariffs are enforceable.

Information leaflet

The following leaflet presents all information published when the regulatory package came into force.