UPDATE 2-EU suspends aviation slots rule as coronavirus hammers airlines

(Adds EU suspending rule)

By Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) - The European Union will
suspend a rule requiring airlines to run most of their scheduled
services or else forfeit landing slots, to give carriers some
breathing space as the coronavirus crisis deepens, EU chief
Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

The decision came as the world's airlines scrambled to deal
with the worsening virus epidemic and Italy's lockdown, which
have hammered passenger numbers and forced the cancellation of
thousands of flights.

Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said
the suspension of the rule would do away with "ghost flights"
where airlines fly almost empty planes simply to keep their
slots.

"The Commission will put forward, very rapidly,
legislation," she said. "We want to make it easier for airlines
to keep their airport slot even if they do not operate flights
in those slots because of the declining traffic.

"This temporary measure helps our industry but it also helps
our environment. It will relieve the pressure on aviation
industry and in particular on smaller airline companies."

The EU chief did not say how long the suspension of the rule
would last.

Germany had on Tuesday joined calls for Brussels to relax
the rules, saying that it would be harmful both environmentally
and financially to persist.

"In order not to lose their slots, airlines have to fly with
almost empty aircraft through the crisis," a spokesman for the
economy ministry said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine in Brussels;
Additional reporting by Christian Kraemer in Berlin; Editing by
Philip Blenkinsop, Josephine Mason and Pravin Char)