05/05/2010

News / DOT Grants Delta/US Airways Slot Waiver

The U.S. Department of Transportation has decided to allow Delta Air Lines and US Airways to swap slots at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA), subject to the condition that the carriers divest themselves of a number of slots at both airports to preserve competition.

“This decision will enable the two airlines to carry out their transaction while making sure competition is preserved at both airports,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

On Aug. 12, 2009, the two carriers requested approval for their transaction, which would include US Airways receiving 42 pairs of daily slots at Reagan Washington National in exchange for Delta obtaining 125 slot pairs at LaGuardia. A slot is the right to take off or land at an airport where these rights are limited.

The Department will require the carriers divest 14 pairs of daily slots at Reagan National and 20 pairs at LaGuardia and sell them through a blind sale to airlines that currently have little or no service at these airports, with Delta and US Airways retaining the proceeds from the sale. Slot pairs would be sold in bundles large enough to ensure that a purchaser would have a sufficient number of slots to provide meaningful new competition. The final decision incorporates most of the major elements of the tentative decision announced on Feb. 9.

While Delta and US Airways made a counterproposal in which they would transfer 15 pairs of slots at LaGuardia and 4 ½ pairs at Reagan National to several smaller carriers, in today’s decision the Department said the carriers’ counteroffer would be insufficient to preserve competition at the two airports.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2010/dot8810.htm

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