The demise of Air Lib, which came after a last-ditch rescue attempt failed to save the French independent, has set the stage for a battle to obtain the carrier's Paris Orly slots.
As many as 20,000 annual slots will go back into the slot pool, managed by Paris slot allocation authority COHOR. Low-cost easyJet, which is aiming to turn Orly into a new hub, has already contacted COHOR and says it expects to receive its "fair share" of slots.
However, there will be plenty of competition, with Air France also making it known that it expects to receive "a certain amount" of the available slots to use on domestic routes to Marseilles, Toulouse, Nice and Perpignan.
The demise of Air Lib, one of the carriers involved in the collapse of the Swissair Group in 2001, will lead to 3,200 job losses, although some may be taken on by Air France. Air Lib was born out of the merger of Air Libert‚ and AOM following the Swissair collapse.
Source: Airline Business
