Business aircraft operators planning to fly to Britain for next summer’s Olympic Games are being encouraged to make early requests for mandatory landing and takeoff slots at airports in what will be heavily restricted airspace in the southeast of England. Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) has said that for 31 days from July 16, 2012, private or chartered aircraft will present a challenge to airport capacity across the region, which lies under one of the world’s most crowded areas of airspace.
Accordingly, coordination of all airport runway slots in the region is seen as the only way to manage the expected levels of traffic without the danger of demand “bunching,” says a 186-page report by consultants Atkins for the DfT (Air Traffic Review and Airport Capacity Assessment associated with the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics). “Without control of the arrival and departure profile of flights, severe bottlenecks may appear, generating delays for all flights, [and] potentially impacting the wider European central-flow management operation.”
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