slot pair

plural slot pairs

1. aeronauticsThe commercial rights for an airline to take off and land planes at a particular airport at a particular time.

   Qantas 'bought' or acquired (outright purchases may well be illegal) two slot pairs for over USD 1 5 million per slot pair.

   2003, Air and Space Law, volume 28, page 275

   3 more examples

   The airport was already full, which meant that any airline wanting to start Heathrow service had to find an airline willing to sell gate rights or, more accurately, slot pairs.

   2015, Bret Wallach, A World Made for Money: Economy, Geography, and the Way We Live Today

   In 2010 it was estimated that at Heathrow Airport, over 400 weekly slots were being traded and that the value of a slot pair was £30–40 million for pre-0900 arrivals and £10 million for 0900–1300 arrivals (Steer Davies Gleave, 2011).

   2016, Anne Graham, Airport Finance and Investment in the Global Economy

   Therefore, the air carrier is willing to pay a fee for the slot pair as long as the fee plus the opportunity cost of the investment are not higher than the expected profit for a given route.

   2016, Achim I. Czerny, Airport Slots: International Experiences and Options for Reform