Airport slot management that keeps every series above the 80% line, with the evidence for every filing
Every slot series kept above the line, without flying an empty plane to keep it.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Airport Slot Management is airport slot management software for the airline slot desk. It covers airline slot management at FAA-slotted and coordinated airports: slot usage monitoring against the 80/20 rule, relief and justified non-use cases, slot messages to coordinators and next season's requests. Seven agents match every flight to its slot each night, build each case with every flight's cause cited, and count every filing twice; the slot manager decides and signs.
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Airport slot management is use it or lose it. At LaGuardia, JFK and Reagan National an airline keeps a slot only if it uses it at least 80% of the time, and at a coordinated airport such as Heathrow a series keeps its historic precedence only at 80% of the season under the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines. A small slot desk tracks hundreds of series in spreadsheets, works out from the operations log why each flight did not operate, and writes the two-month usage reports, waiver requests and slot clearance requests to coordinators by hand.
So usage is seen after the period ends, when a series at 77% can no longer recover. Relief turns on the cause, and the cause is a free-text code in the operations log, often wrong. Recovery flights use the slot under another number and go uncounted. The fallback is a near-empty flight flown just to keep the slot. And the FAA's staffing-related relief at JFK, LGA and DCA ends in October 2027, and the FAA has said staffing shortfalls will not likely be a basis for further relief.
Estimated split for a slot desk holding about 200 series across FAA-slotted and coordinated airports, by hand and with the solution.
Seven agents track every slot nightly, build relief cases with evidence and count every filing twice; the slot manager decides and signs.
Corvane Airways holds 206 slot series at LaGuardia, JFK, Reagan National and Heathrow. On Thursday, October 15, 2026, three are at risk of withdrawal. Here is how the slot manager works with the agents on the most urgent one, LGA 0715 · CV 2101 to Denver, screen by screen in the working solution.
Overnight the slot agents matched yesterday's flights to all 206 series. Three are at risk of withdrawal and four more are on watch under 85%. Six things need Nadia, CV 2101 first: it will end at 77% against an 80% line, but two storm cancellations can bring it back to 81%. Beside the list, the Usage tracker, Relief finder and Deadline keeper say what they did and answer her questions.
Relief finder: “CV 2101: of 12 misses, only the 2 storm days qualify. The 3 staffing cancellations do not.”
Each slot series is a ribbon of weeks: filled where it flew, hollow where it did not, outlined where it is still to come, with a dashed 80% line across it. At-risk series come first, each with an agent's note and its next step: relief for CV 2101, two flights found for DCA CV 3318, a justified non-use claim for LHR CV 107.
LGA 0715 departure, CV 2101 LGA–DEN, A321neo, Sunday to Friday, counted over the Sep–Oct period. Of 52 slot days, 26 flew and 12 did not, with 14 to come. It needs 42 (80% of 52 is 41.6), so even if every flight operates it ends at 40 of 52, 77%. Each unused day shows its cause code from the operations log, what the record says, and whether it qualifies for relief, with a confidence.
What if: “81% · 42 of 52 with relief. Exactly on the line — not one more cancellation.”
Sep 11 was a ground delay program from New York approach staffing. The Relief finder marks it does not qualify and opens the source: FR Doc. 2026-12593, the FAA's staffing-related relief for Winter 2026/27 and Summer 2027, which covers staffing through advance slot returns. Asking for these days would weaken the request for the two storm days.
The Relief finder never files, and explains every “does not qualify”.
The agent read the 12 unused days in the operations log, the ATCSCC advisories and the KLGA METARs, and tested each day against the FAA standard: beyond the carrier's control, five or more consecutive days. Oct 2 (LGA ground stop 06:40–10:15, arrival and departure rates cut to 18 an hour) and Oct 5 (ground stop 06:20–09:40, runway 4/22 standing water) fell in the Oct 1–5 coastal storm. Nadia accepts both.
The Filing drafter writes the request to the FAA Slot Administration Office in the form it answers fastest: the slot LGA-CV-D0715, the two dates, the cause and evidence for each flight, and a plain statement of what Corvane is not asking for. Eighteen attachments go with it. Nadia can edit the text or ask for it shorter.
The Filing checker re-counts from the FAA's slot record and the operations log, without using the Relief finder's numbers: 52 slot days, 26 flown, 12 not used, 14 to come; 40 + 2 = 42 of 52, 80.8%. The counts agree. One thing it will not settle itself: the Oct 5 entry was coded ATC at 06:55 and changed to WX at 09:12 by Ray Delgado in Operations Control.
Filing checker: “The METAR (34 knots gusting 47, ¾ mile in rain) and advisory 058 support WX. Accept the change and attach both?”
Nadia accepts the evidence and signs with reason code R1 · Weather beyond carrier control, five-day event — “meets the FAA standard: highly unusual, unpredictable, five or more consecutive days”. The other choice on the form is R6 · Evidence insufficient. Marcus Hale co-signs before it goes to the FAA.
Marcus co-signs and the request goes to the FAA Slot Administration Office with its two log entries, six advisories and ten METARs. CV 2101 now shows 81% with relief filed, with no margin: every one of the 14 remaining departures must fly. One click asks Operations Control to protect them with the spare A321neo N412CV overnighting at LGA.
Deadline keeper: “The FAA has no fixed deadline for a waiver request, but it should go before the Sep–Oct usage report on Nov 14, which will refer to it.”
DCA 1830 · CV 3318 shows 13 slot days not used, 79%. The Usage tracker found that on Sep 14 and Sep 21 a recovery flight, CV 9318, flew in the 1830 slot for the passengers of the canceled CV 3318, ACARS out at 18:34 and 18:41. Nadia counts both as flown: 50 of 61, 82%, and the mapping goes into the DCA usage report with the out, off, on and in times.
The same morning on the slot desk, seen by four of the people who carry it — what their season looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents track every slot nightly, build relief cases with evidence and count every filing twice; the slot manager decides and signs.
Every night matches each flown or canceled flight to its slot series by airport, time and days, finds flights that used a slot under another number, and projects every series to the end of its period assuming every remaining flight operates.
Reads the operations log, ATC advisories, METARs and NOTAMs for every unused slot day, tests it against that airport's rule — the FAA standard, the current FAA notices, the slot guidelines — and builds the relief or justified non-use case with its evidence.
Drafts usage reports, FAA waiver requests, justified non-use claims, slot messages to coordinators in IATA SSIM format, slot returns and transfer notices.
Re-counts every filing on its own from the FAA's slot record, the coordinator's allocation and the operations log, and checks format, dates and arithmetic.
Builds next season's requests from the network plan and checks every change for historic precedence against the airport's time tolerance before it is sent, with an option that keeps the history.
When a series cannot be kept well by flying it, proposes a swap or a lease that keeps the history, with the value and the effect on usage.
Keeps every FAA and coordinator date, reminds the owner 10, 5 and 1 days ahead, checks that the filing went, and escalates to the slot manager 2 days before with nothing ready.
Signs filings; Airport Affairs co-signs waivers; the VP approves swaps and leases. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any series, cancellation, filing or deal — the agent that did the work answers, points to its source and offers the next step.
Which series could we lose this period?
Three, if nothing changes: LGA 0715 · CV 2101 at 77%, DCA 1830 · CV 3318 at 79% and LHR 0640 · CV 107 at 79.0%. Each has a way back: relief for two storm days, two flights found under CV 9318, and three runway-closure days.
Why don't the ATC cancellations of 2101 qualify?
The three on Sep 11, Sep 25 and Oct 9 were ground delay programs from New York approach staffing. The FAA's 2026 notice covers staffing through advance returns and says staffing shortfalls will not likely form a basis for further relief. Asking for them would weaken the request for the two storm days.
Do we need to fly anything empty to keep a slot?
No. The three at-risk series each have a way back without an extra flight, and the one series we cannot fly well this winter — DCA 2015 — goes to a lease instead of a near-empty E175. That lease waits for Gwen.
What does flying CV 3346 all winter cost us?
About $631,400: 154 flights at $4,100 each in crew, fuel and fees, with about 30 seats sold. The lease brings in $186,000 (estimated) and keeps the slot's history.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Each airport's slot rule and the lines the agents work to are settings — versioned, approved and on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Watch line | 85% projected | Any value from 80% to 95% |
| Confidence gate | 95% | Any value from 80% to 99%; a cause classified below it goes to a person |
| Filing ready | 5 days before due | 5 · 7 · 10 days |
| Relief drafted | Within 24 hours after a qualifying event ends | Within 24 hours · within 48 hours |
| LGA and DCA | FAA · 80% of each two-month period | Usage report due 14 days after each period |
| JFK | FAA · 80% of the season | Usage checked by the FAA after the season |
| LHR | Coordinator · 80/20 over the season | Level 3 coordinated; historic list after the season |
| EWR | Schedule-facilitated | Approved times, no usage rule; add any airport with its rule |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (Bloomberg via AirlineGeeks, 2025, on Heathrow slot-pair values; Transport & Environment via AirlineGeeks on ghost-flight CO2 in 2020–21). Rules named on this page: FAA Operating Limitations at LGA (89 FR 41484) and JFK (89 FR 41486), 14 CFR 93.227, FR Doc. 2025-14100 and FR Doc. 2026-12593 (staffing relief to Oct 30, 2027), the IATA Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines and IATA SSIM. Corvane Airways, Northway Regional, Halden Air, Kestrel Air and every person named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Airport Slot Management is airport slot management software for the airline slot desk. It covers airline slot management at FAA-slotted and coordinated airports: slot usage monitoring against the 80/20 rule, relief and justified non-use cases, slot messages to coordinators and next season's requests. Seven agents match every flight to its slot each night, build each case with every flight's cause cited, and count every filing twice; the slot manager decides and signs.
It is the use-it-or-lose-it rule: an airline keeps a slot only if it uses it at least 80% of the time. At LaGuardia and at Reagan National (14 CFR 93.227) the FAA counts usage over each two-month period, at JFK over the season, and at coordinated airports such as Heathrow a series keeps its historic precedence at 80% of the season under the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines, which also accept justified non-use (justified non-utilization of slots), such as a runway closure. The solution projects every series to the end of its period against that line.
For a highly unusual and unpredictable condition beyond the carrier's control that affects operations for five or more consecutive days, such as the five-day coastal storm in the demo. The Relief finder tests each unused day against that standard and the current FAA notices, puts only the qualifying days in the request, and explains why the others do not qualify — staffing cancellations, for example, are covered through advance returns.
Yes. The Usage tracker finds flights that used a slot under a recovery or re-numbered flight number, with the ACARS out, off, on and in times as evidence. In the demo, two DCA cancellations had flown as recovery flight CV 9318, which took the series from 79% to 82% once the slot manager counted them.
By staying inside the airport's time tolerance, or keeping the days and frequency, so the coordinator treats the change as a retime of the historic series and not a new request. The Season planner checks every change in next season's network plan against that tolerance before a request is sent and marks it keeps history or loses history. For a change that would lose its historic slot rights, it offers an option that keeps them, such as a nearby time or a smaller aircraft on weekends, for the schedule planner to choose.
Yes. When a series cannot be kept well by flying it, the Swap & lease analyst proposes a lease or swap that keeps the history, with the value, its inputs and the effect on usage, and the Filing drafter prepares the FAA or coordinator notice. Only the VP Network Planning can approve it.
No. The agents draft, check and recommend; they never send, file, accept, sign, swap or lease. The slot manager signs each FAA slot waiver request or justified non-use claim with a reason code and electronic signature, Airport Affairs co-signs waiver requests, the VP Network Planning approves swaps and leases, and every step is on a chained audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your slot holdings, airport rules, filing templates and system connections — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. A first-time setup checklist adds your airports and their rules, loads your slot holdings, and connects the schedule system, operations log, ACARS and the coordinator portal in the order the agents need them.
One more point of revenue per flight, and no seat change posted without an analyst's yes.
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