Chopin Airport to have a coordinator

Polish Civil Aviation Office issued a decision to introduce slot coordination at Chopin Airport from the beginning of the 2012 summer season.

Coordination is introduced at airports where demand exceeds capacity. In Warsaw this step was taken as a result of more frequent breaches of night time noise constraints.

“Air carriers are now more eager to fly during night time and the airport’s authority does not have an effective tool to deal with the airlines’ expectations. That’s why we applied for introducing coordination – it’s the only way to comply with environmental constraints,” explains Andrzej Ilków, director of Chopin Airport Aerodrome Operations Safety Bureau.

The role of the coordinator will be to allocated take-off and landing slots so as to make optimal use of the available capacity and ensure smooth flow of air traffic. Slot allocation is carried out in line with European regulations and international standards set out in the Worldwide Slot Guidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Chopin Airport will become a coordinated airport on 25 March 2012 and will apply 24 hours a day in order to avoid congestion immediately before and after night time (i.e. from 9 PM to 10 PM and between 6 and 7 AM). The change will also help the airport to meet increased traffic demand during the EURO 2012 tournament.

The coordinator, who must not be in any way related to the airport operator or airlines, will be selected in a competition run by the Civil Aviation Office.