ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the positions of the legislative arm of the Commission for air transport, DGVII, and the quasi-judicial arm, DGIV, on the issues of ground-handling and slot allocation. It aims to compare the views of the Directorates which derived from the interaction with the elite and non-elite groups. Legal opinion is divided as to whether the secondary trading of slots is lawful under Regulation 95/93. Ground-handling is a matter which has been pursued by DGIV since it received the first airline complaints regarding the issue. The Commission Proposal for a Council Directive, drafted by DGVII, uses precisely the same reasons to delay or hold back liberalisation which were originally rejected by DGIV. Conversely, DGIV oppose the continued recognition of grandfather rights and believe that any new Regulation should clearly abolish such rights. DGIV favours a system where such rights are time-limited, as opposed to the indefinite system of grandfather rights which currently exists.
