Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
Why in the hell do we have to sell slots??
Is this Schumer coming to Jetblues defense? Whats jetblue going to give up in JFK? From each according to his ability to each according to his unearned wants.
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Delta responds to DOT ruling on New York slot transaction
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February 9, 2010
Delta expressed disappointment Tuesday in a proposed ruling by the U.S. Department of Transportation on a previously announced slot transaction with US Airways at New York-LaGuardia and Washington-Reagan National airports.
“Delta and US Airways are disappointed in the DOT’s decision that, if implemented, would negatively impact the consumer and economic benefits created by the proposed transaction by divesting 16% of the transaction at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and 33% of the transaction at Washington-National,” the airlines said in a joint statement. “Chief among those benefits is the ability for both airlines to maintain and add new nonstop service between two of America’s top business markets and small- and medium-sized communities across the United States.
“We appreciate the thousands of employees, customers and elected and community leaders who have voiced their support for our transaction. However, we expect that if this order is implemented as proposed the transaction will not go forward and significant consumer benefits will never be realized. Both airlines will review the DOT’s proposed rulemaking to determine our next steps.”
In August, US Airways agreed to transfer 125 operating slot pairs at LaGuardia to Delta. In exchange, Delta agreed to transfer 42 operating slot pairs to US Airways at Washington-National.
Since October, Delta employees have sent nearly 14,000 e-mails and letters to members of Congress as well as the DOT, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Obama administration, urging support for the transaction.
The public will have 30 days to comment on the proposed ruling, after which the DOT will issue a final decision.
FT.com / Companies / Aerospace & Defence - US Airways, Delta airport swap deal stalls
US Airways, Delta airport swap deal stalls
By Jeremy Lemer in New York
Published: February 10 2010 00:49 | Last updated: February 10 2010 00:49
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Delta Air Lines and
US Airways could walk away from an innovative deal to swap airport landing slots after US aviation authorities tentatively approved the moves but demanded that the companies sell some slots to competitors.
In a joint statement Delta and US Airways expressed their “disappointment” in the preliminary ruling and warned “that if this order is implemented as proposed the transaction will not go forward.”
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The original deal was intended to allow Delta, the world’s largest airline, to increase its presence in the lucrative New York travel market and give US Airways additional bulk in its Washington, DC airport where it is a more substantial player.
But the Federal Aviation Administration said that “while the proposed transaction has a number of benefits, a grant of a waiver in its entirety would result in a substantial increase in market concentration that would harm consumers.”
To “counterbalance the potential harm”, the FAA said it would only approve the deal if the two airlines sold 14 slot pairs at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and 20 slot pairs at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to competitors.
Under the deal, announced in August of 2009, US airways was to give US Airways 42 slot pairs at DCA and in return receive 125 slot pairs at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Slots are valuable commodities because they give an airline the right to land and take off at a given airport at a particular time. In congested areas such as New York and Washington, DC, slots are limited.
Experts said that the approval was positive for both airlines allowing them to rejigg their portfolio of routes and concentrate in the regions where they were most likely to generate returns.
But they warned that the concessions had alterted the relative attractiveness of the deal.
Bill Swelbar, a research engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Air Transportation, noted that US Airways will have to give up about one third of the slots at DCA it had been hoping to get hold of while Delta will have to give up only 16 per cent of the slots it was targeting.
“Based on what the FAA is offering, the question is do the two airlines still consider this to be a dollar for dollar swap?” Mr Swelbar said.
The two companies said that the FAA’s proposal “would negatively impact the consumer and economic benefits created by the proposed transaction” and said they would review the decision “to determine our next steps.”
For Delta, the deal would have doubled its size at LaGuardia airport and allowed it to challenge Continental Airlines’ status as the biggest carrier in the New York area. Continental runs a key international and domestic hub at Newark airport.
US Airways would have slimmed down in New York but grown in Washington and gained access to airports in Tokyo and Sao Paulo, Brazil from Delta’s slots in DCA. Last year it said that the deal would add $75m a year to its bottom line.
Competitors and the general public now have 30 days to comment before a final decision. Delta said it would also use the comment period to express its views to the FAA.