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Delta's general counsel wrote in a Jan. 29 letter than the airline has been told the Justice Department's antitrust division staff planned to recommend that the division challenge the proposed transaction.

The same week as the Delta-US Airways deal was announced, it was also disclosed that AirTran Airways, based in Orlando, Fla., planned to stop flying to and from Newark, N.J., and give its takeoff and landing slots there to Continental Airlines in exchange for Continental slots at LaGuardia and National airports.

Continental, based in Houston, has a hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, which is used by many travelers heading to or from New York City.

The flurry of slot swap transactions was prompted by the carriers' desire to serve destinations where they believe they can be more profitable than on routes where they have been cutting service.

Through the transactions, the airlines are seeking more bang for the buck in congested areas where slot access is limited and where they face increased competition from Southwest Airlines, which has a knack for bringing lower fares to new markets it serves.

Delta, based in Atlanta, had projected it would operate nearly 30 percent of the total available seat miles from the three main airports serving New York City, if the swap with US Airways went through as the two airlines wanted. Available seat miles measure an airline's capacity for carrying passengers. It equals the number of seats available multiplied by miles flown.

US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., wants to expand its service at Washington National, and obtain access from Delta to slots at airports in Tokyo and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The carrier has said it planned to reduce its Express flights at LaGuardia, while mainline and Shuttle flight levels would not be affected.

At LaGuardia, Delta's plan calls for building a connector between the adjacent Delta and US Airways main terminals and rebranding US Airways' existing main terminal gates, ticket counters and lounges to Delta standards. Delta Shuttle operations, currently housed in a separate terminal called the Marine Air Terminal, would be moved to Delta's consolidated main terminal. US Airways' Shuttle operations would move to the Marine Air Terminal. A fourth terminal currently houses gates from other airlines.

The slots DOT is requiring be divested would have to be sold to U.S. or Canadian carriers that have less than 5 percent of the total slot interest holdings at the two airports, do not codeshare on flights to or from the airports with any airline that has 5 percent or more slot interest holdings there, and are not subsidiaries of a company whose combined slot interest holdings are equal to or greater than 5 percent at National or LaGuardia.

The Associated Press: Delta, US Airways may drop planned slot swap

I think Delta and UsAir ought to codeshare their shuttle operations and then divide up the extra slots.

Also, RAH has their hands in this pot too, does anyone know the deal with them and our slot swap program?

Looked to me like Prater has grown a chin or two on the ALPA teet......

Watched the show with my frequent-flyer mother-in-law. By the end of the show she was aghast and spent the next hour asking me questions about rest rules, pay, the whole 9 yards. If even ten percent of the frequent flyers out there had the same reaction, the show was a success in my mind.

How much money did we spend working on the slot swap deal and the JAL deal? I'll bet we've burned through a fair amount trying to get those deals done. I get the JAL deal, they made a business decision on what they feel is best to get their company back on track, I get that.

The slot swap deal however is just another example of how screwed up the U.S. aviation industry is due to the government trying to run it while saying it is deregulated. If we need to give up slots, then they should allow us to unload an equal amount of peak and non-peak slots via an auction process to the highest bidder. I think we should buy B6. We get a new terminal in NYC, a bunch of new 320's, a fleet of 190's, and when the DOT requires us to give up NYC slots to approve the deal, we give them to Spirit in return for some SA routes.

the company will work a deal out on the slot issue in NYC. It may not be the complete deal they thought but it looks like USAIR is the ones that are really gonna get shafted with DC.

As far as JAL, it didnt work out but the company isnt going to just pack its bags and roll over with this. You guys asking about furloughs in regards to this, think about it, this means that we're going to have to compete on our own and strengthen our asia flying to compete better. Whether it be Guam our Narita bases, the company is going to move forward with something (plan b, c, etc) it just wont be as clear cut as teh JAL handover might have been.

Theres alot of stuff in the works and if anything i think this is going to keep the company on its toes as we establish our dominant place in the industry. Its going to get interesting this year and i'm glad to be a part of it ;)

Thanks for posting the link.

I don't know anything more than anyone else, but I agree with you. The LGA/DCA slot thing isn't even final! The DOT is giving everyone 30 days to make comments, THEN they issue the final ruling. Washington is all about negotiation.

I think the JAL thing was an easy way to pick up some influence over there. I don't think we'll give up - we could make some sort of Far Asia hub at Guam if we lose NRT slots and end up with a few HND slots. We could use one of our Asian Skyteam partners (China Eastern or Korean Air) to set up some sort of hub in one of their cities. We could take delivery of B787 and just overfly NRT/HND to Asian cities and stick it to JAL/AA. We could make a hub in ANC or SEA and fly people to and from Asia through it.

These are just the ideas I've come up with today, while watching my 2 month old. Can you imagine what the people like Glen Hauestein (who doesn't have a 2 month old next to his desk) can come up with?

First the loss on the JAL bid, now this?

It's nice to have an aggressive management team, I guess, but it's all for naught if they can't get anything approved.

Looks like we (Delta) are getting spanked every which way but Sunday. Got played by the Japanese and now the LGA deal. I believe it was NuGuy many pages ago that warned to not count AMR out. I believe they also were very instrumental in the LGA conditions. I think RA and the boys just got schooled. AMR may have its issues (mx, labor etc) but they are ruthless. They can't stand being #2 and are finally doing something about it. Imho they have WAY more clout in DC then DAL. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Nothing good ever comes easy. We're now the biggest airline, and we've demonstrated a willingness both to challenge one of our toughest competitors on their turf, to break up their alliance. We've demonstrated an interested in trying truly innovative deals, and searched for new profitable routes in some of the ugliest places imagineable. The fight with CAL for New York is just starting, and we also face JB, a very connected airline. STAR is an incredible franchise, and we haven't seen them mutate into a true brute of a 1,600 lb gorilla yet.

If we're going to "win", it's going to take more than internet posts. Our airline is going to have to play ruthless defense, not just creative offense. Who's to say certain influential lobbyists, such as a former Transportation Secretary hired to help scuttle our pass at JAL, didn't also join JB at the DOT's doorstep? We ned to learn to screw them just the same.

This is a brutal game. We're going to have to tuck one behind the other for speed, and become much better. We have a good management team. They need to be great. We have a good union. We need to be great. We are good employees. We need to be great.

For now, I hope we trip up some of the other deals, and we take a page from JB's book. Let us polish up our connections, and let's not be outlobbied ever again.

RA and Bastian are good. But the occasional slap in the face may help them develop into great airline people. So far, each has had a history of being very clever and effective, but each has run from difficult situations, if memory serves. I want to see the intelligence, determination, and ruthless cunning of a Bob Crandall. I want to see fangs.

And I'm willing to support them, write the letters, and show up for hearings if they prove they have what it takes.

This never was going to be easy, no matter how optimistic we were. The world still isn't fair. And now we have a huge target on our back. That's because, for a change, we actually have a chance to rule this mo-fo. Now, there is a good reason to cheer up.