FACTBOX-How airlines play the aviation slot machine
Sept 25 (Reuters) - With the future of Alitalia AZPIa.MI hanging by a thread, rival airlines are eyeing its sought-after take-off and landing rights.
The allocation of slots, the lifeblood of many airlines, has evolved into a multi-million-dollar business with soaring prices. It is a largely secretive system bound by rules for which even airlines are unable to agree a common interpretation.
Here are some details:
-- What is a slot?
The right to land or take off on a specific day and time and to use airport infrastructure needed to operate flights.
-- Which airports operate a slot system?
Airports designated as "coordinated" airports: in practice the most congested. 140 airports worldwide ration flights.
-- Exemptions to the slot system
State flights, emergency landings, humanitarian flights.
-- Who allocates the slots?
Under European Union rules, each country appoints an independent coordinator. It must be impartial, though critics sometimes complain that local airlines get preference.
Citadel enters the fray
Kenneth Griffin's powerful hedge fund has waded into the case of Goldman Sachs' purloined computer code, suing three of its former employees for setting up Teza Technologies. Full Article | Full Coverage
