I am 80% certain it is just a condition for approval. Thus putting them up for auction DAL/Airways still generate money and the DOT helps SWA/jetblue etc out. I'm looking for the money week article about it that stated B6 might be willing to spend up to 1 billion for the rights and that USairways and Delta will gain well needed cash.

Reason I don't say 100% is due to how many times this ruling changed over the last 2 years. Also somewhere on the Crewnews for Airways Parker mention the selling of slots and that generating cash but of course they rather have more slots.

Believe that the slots are the property of the US government, but been wrong before.

I dont think they are really. But I again have thought I understood the process and have come to think I dont yet again.... If that were the case then why would RAH be looking to "SELL" slots to generate revenue. I do think some are right the government might just be getting the money as well since they are forcing USairways and Delta to "Divest" these slots.......

Office of the Chief Counsel
DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation
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Reallocation of Slots at Ronald Reagan Washingtion National Airport (DCA) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
On October 7, 2011, the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration granted, with conditions, a joint waiver request by Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) from the prohibition on purchasing operating authorizations (slots) at LaGuardia Airport (LGA), 76 FR 63702 (Oct. 13, 2011) (the Waiver). The Waiver permitted Delta and US Airways 30 days to accept the terms of the Waiver. They accepted by joint letter on October 12, 2011.

Among the conditions of the Waiver, the Secretary and Administrator require Delta and US Airways collectively to dispose of 16 slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and 32 slots at LGA. Those divested slots will be reallocated in one slot bundle for DCA and two slot bundles (of 16 slots each) for LGA to eligible new entrant and limited incumbent carriers, 76 FR 65773 (Oct. 24, 2011) (the Procedures).

The divesting carriers have advised the FAA that the transfer of the divested slots to each purchaser will be subject to and conditioned upon the closing of the transactions contemplated under the asset purchase and sale agreement entered into between Delta and US Airways, which provides for, among other things, the transfer by US Airways to Delta of 132 slot pairs (265 slots) at LGA and the transfer by Delta to US Airways of 42 slot pairs (84 slots) at DCA. Click here for a complete description of the procedures and timelines for that reallocation (PDF)

Office of the Chief Counsel - DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation

(4) Completing the Slot Reallocation Transaction
On November 23, 2011, the FAA will notify the divesting carrier and the winning bidder for each bundle of the winning bid and contact information for completing the transaction. The Waiver requires the divesting carrier and each winning bidder to enter into a binding agreement with respect to the sale of the divested slots within five business days from the FAA’s notice of the winning bid. Accordingly, the FAA expects the carriers will notify the FAA that they have entered into binding agreements with respect to the sale of the divested slots, via email to [email protected], no later than December 1, 2011. That notification must certify that only monetary consideration will be or has been exchanged for the slots.
(5) Posting Bid Information
After the FAA receives notice of the binding agreement between the divesting carrier and the winning bidder, it will post on this web page the winning bid and identity of the winning bidder. The FAA also will post all other bid information with the name of the respective bidders.
In the unlikely event that no bids are received for a particular slot bundle, those slots would revert to the FAA. The FAA would post notice on this web page if no bids were received.
(6) Questions
If you have questions regarding this process, please contact Robert Hawks, FAA Office

I think an aviation week article, back when the slot swap had just been denied, said that with Delta suing the government then for the first time slots would go to court and the question of who they really belong to would be settled. Delta said the owned them and the FAA said they did.

So now that a deal was reached then both sides got a push rather than a potentially devastating loss of control.

I think even if the slots could revert back to the FAA you could claim that's a part of the deal to prevent a antitrust suit.

But I think the airlines own them due to their history and nature of their origination but it'd been interesting to let a court decide.

Let the court decide...did the airlines ever pay for the slots when they originated?

Just a thought....but how can the FAA ever own anything other than airspace?

Not to mention the inherent conflict of interest that comes with allowing a Federal Agency to profit/benefit from the industry they are overseeing.

If the FAA potentially acquires up to $1 billion in auction proceeds as a result of this transaction, then can we really say that the final ruling was without any bias?


Getting sick and tired of the airline industry being a ****ing pot for the federal government. The new tax/fee proposals trying to be leveraged against the airlines by the Obama administration is a spit in the face.

That would be funny if it weren't so true...:mad: