How Airport Slots Became $75 Million Assets

Every airline passenger has heard the captain announce a "slot," but almost nobody understands what it actually means — because there are two completely separate slot systems running in parallel. One is the historic allocation system, where grandfather rights let incumbents hold slots at congested airports like Heathrow forever, creating a secondary market where a single slot pair recently sold for £75 million. The other is the dynamic air traffic control system that determines when your flight actually pushes back from the gate. This episode unpacks both systems, from IATA's Slot Conference and the COVID-era ghost flight scandal to how airlines pad schedules to make on-time performance look better than it really is.