In the past few weeks, the Lufthansa Group has repeatedly raised the mood against the current European slot rules. It was announced that 18.000 avoidable flights would have to be carried out in order to comply with the rules. The lobbying work in Brussels was not well received because the EU Commission insists on compliance with the 64 percent rule.

Specifically, this means that the airlines must actually use at least 2021 percent of their take-off and landing rights during the current winter period 22/64. Otherwise there is a risk of withdrawal and reassignment by the respective regulator. Lufthansa is of the opinion that, given the current demand, empty flights would even have to be carried out in order not to endanger the slots. There was one between the future Austrian Airlines boss Annette Mann and a Wizz Air manager controversial discussion.

However, the EU Commission assumes that the Omikron variant will at most bring about a short-term kink in the recovery of European air traffic. So there would be no need to relax the slot rules. However, there is a "rabbit foot": If airlines can prove that the use of their take-off and landing rights has been made virtually impossible for them, for example because of strict entry and quarantine regulations, the 64 percent rule should not apply. Brussels then wants to decide on a case-by-case basis.