Slot restrictions in airports
One of the main advantages of flying with private jet charters is that it enables the passengers to fly when they want. However, in some circumstances, this leverage may be restricted. In some airports, all aircraft movements are obliged to inform airport authorities of their estimated time of departure. Being informed, slot allocations were made accordingly by the controllers. This procedure is called as PPR (Prior permission required).
Particularly in busy airports, controlling the aircrafts on the ground becomes hard for the controllers if not being informed in advance, resulting in long delays. Thus, they require your crew to inform about start-up and departure times and plan correspondently. If your flight is delayed for whatever the reason may be, you lose your allocated slot and line up for another available slot. In order to avoid this, when using PPR enforced airports, it is vital to abide by the planned time of departure.
Another problem that may arise when you choose to fly in major airports is that you may not be allocated an available slot on your planned date. If all available slots are issued, then you have to choose another suitable time.
Examples of PPR Enforced Airports
Ibiza and Mykonos, hot spots of summer tourism in Europe, enforce these requirements, especially in summer. Normally, in order to obtain a slot in summer months, the PPR request should be sent in two weeks advance. As a result of space shortage in the airports, long term parking is also quite expensive and average park time of an aircraft is only 30 minutes.
PPR requirements are also enforced on occasional worldwide events such as super bowl or football world cups. During these events, the aircraft density peaks and in order to plan and coordinate the flights effectively, airport authorities impose such requirements. To travel without any problem, choosing alternative airports that are close to the major airports would be a wise solution.