Cannes-Mandelieu Airport in southern France will be slot coordinated under a trial period that will run from April 23 to late October. According to Umberto Vallino, the airport’s customer service manager, Cannes-Mandelieu will be the first dedicated business aviation airport in Europe subject to mandatory arrival and departure slots. He told AIN that the slot coordination arrangements have been imposed by France’s DGAC civil aviation authority, which argues that its air traffic controllers cannot handle the volume of traffic around Cannes and nearby Nice-Cote d’Azur Airport. The slot coordination process is being managed by not-for-profit company Cohor. Operators wanting to fly in and out of Cannes will have to apply for slots via
e-mail or fax (+33 4 93 90 41 30) to the Cannes Operations Office. Operators issued a slot will get a PPR number, which needs to be noted in the flight plan. Meanwhile, Cannes-Mandelieu Airport has started construction of a fourth hangar–slated for completion late next year–to accommodate new based business aircraft operators.