A compulsory system for allocating landing and take-off slots at Dublin Airport is no longer in place and authorities are warning that major congestion at the airport could result unless a replacement is found soon.
In early July the High Court ruled that the system for allocating landing and take-off slots must be withdrawn because the aviation regulator, who imposed it, had exceeded his powers.
There was hope a stay could be placed on this decision. But the regulator, the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) has confirmed that a stay has not been granted and the system has been put into abeyance with immediate effect.
The regulator, along with Dublin Airport, supports a compulsory system where airlines are obliged to adhere to the slot times they are allocated. This would entail making Dublin Airport a "fully co-ordinated" airport.
It could have meant fining airlines if they did not comply with decisions made by a slot co-ordinator.
However Ryanair strongly opposes making the system compulsory and want to revert to a voluntary system where the airlines have the right to refuse slot decisions made by the slot co-ordinator. It favours a system based on consensus among the airlines based on their scheduling requirements. This system now comes back into place following the legal decisions.
A spokesman for the Dublin Airport Authority said at the weekend it had strongly urged CAR to "introduce full slot co-ordination as passenger growth continues to surge".
The spokesman said full slot co-ordination helped to spread out some of the airport's peak usage hours and "enhance operational effectiveness for the benefit of all airport users".
The DAA has communicated its views to CAR about the importance of restoring full slot co-ordination at Dublin Airport as quickly as possible, he added.
The latest decision represents a victory for low-cost airline Ryanair in Dublin.
It is expected to locate five new aircraft at Dublin Airport shortly and consequently it needs as much freedom on slots as possible.
However other airlines are also anxious to secure as many early morning slots as possible and clashes between the various airlines cannot be ruled out.
Talks are taking place already about the winter schedules at Dublin Airport.
It is understood an English company, ACL (Air Coordination Limited), is still working on behalf of the regulator at the airport to co-ordinate slots, but its decisions can now be rejected by Ryanair and other airlines.
In early July Ryanair won a High Court order overturning a decision of the Commission for Aviation Regulation concerning the manner in which landing and take-off slots should be allocated.
Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins overturned the commission's decision of April 2005, which altered the designation of Dublin airport as an airport where slots were "schedule-facilitated" to an airport where slots were "co-ordinated".
He ruled the regulator's decision was in excess of its powers and failed to conform with an EU regulation on the management and operation of airport slots.
A "scheduled" airport is one where the various requirements of airlines operating at the airport can be met through a broad measure of consensus as to how the landing and take-off slots should be allocated, while a "co-ordinated" airport is one where slots are allocated by a facilitator independent of the managing body of the airport.
Ryanair had argued for a "schedule-facilitated" rather than a "co-ordinated" regime because this offered it greater flexibility.
