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The High Court has dismissed a claim for judicial review brought by Gatwick Airport Limited of the recently introduced Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements) Regulations.
The Regulations were approved by Parliament, on an urgent basis, in June 2026 in light of the impact of the situation in the Middle East on passenger aviation. The Regulations are designed to alleviate the requirement otherwise imposed on airlines obliging them to use 80% of landing slots at certain UK airports (or face losing those landing slots in future).
Gatwick had claimed that the Secretary of State lacked vires to make the Regulations and that they were made based on a flawed and unlawful consultation exercise. Gatwick also contended they were enacted in breach of the public sector equality duty set out in the Equality Act 2010.
Mr. Justice Johnson rejected the claim finding that the Secretary of State had power to make the Regulations under Section 14 (3) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. Gatwick’s criticisms of the consultation exercise conducted by the Department for Transport and its related claim regarding the public sector equality duty were also rejected.
Conor McCarthy, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright, represented TUI – an Interested Party – in the judicial review proceedings.