TAP leaves 100 slots vacant per day

 In Aviation, News, TAP

In the first week of April, TAP used only 1,868 of the 2,520 slots it has available to fly, leaving around 700 slots unused (or 100 empty per day).

It cancelled 40 flights and yet left 100 slots per day empty which other flights from other companies could technically have made use of.
TAP holds around 50% of the empty slots at Lisbon airport, the majority attributed by acquired rights, but of these around 100 slots per day were not even used.
The European Commission ordered TAP to release 18 hourly slots in return for giving the Portuguese State permission to inject around €2.55Bn in capital into the airline.
Ryanair and Easyjet which competed for these slots have argued that competition is being blocked by TAP by leaving these slots empty, with the result that tourist revenues are being lost with a consequent impact on Portugal’s economy.
The Portuguese infrastructure minister Pedro Nuno Santos estimated at the time that the amount represented around 5% of the slots at Portela, which means a total hourly slot number of 360 in which planes could take off and land.