Big five win big in DCA slot awards

The five largest airlines in the United States (tentatively*) won in their efforts to secure additional long-haul slots at Washington, DC’s Reagan National Airport. Despite from objections and efforts to skew the interpretations of rules in favor of the smaller airlines, the coveted slots will be awarded to:

• Alaska Airlines for service to San Diego, California (SAN)
• American Airlines for service to San Antonio, Texas (SAT)
• Delta Air Lines for service to Seattle, Washington (SEA)
• Southwest Airlines for service to Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS)
• United Airlines for service to San Francisco, California (SFO)

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The DOT was unconvinced by the arguments of Spirit Airlines or Frontier Airlines that they be considered incumbent airlines at DCA, ultimately scuttling their application hopes. Frontier‘s position was denied as it was determined to be a new entrant carrier by DOT’s interpretation of the code because it does not hold any non-exemption slots. Spirit lost its appeal because it is not a current operator at the airport, despite holding slots that were eventually sold to Southwest.

Read more: Airlines vie for long-haul slots at DCA

Similarly, JetBlue‘s argument that boosting its capacity to San Juan would allow it to lower costs on the route by increasing capacity. That was always a questionable claim, and ultimately it fell short, “Because an award to JetBlue would further strengthen the carrier’s dominance in the DCA-SJU market, the application is less compelling than others in this proceeding.” JetBlue’s position that the DOT should help it overcome the failure of its merger with Spirit Airlines also failed to sway to Department.

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United’s application was also subject to a protest from JetBlue about the slot timings. The DOT sidestepped that issue, noting that it expects airlines to work with slot authorities to align with the rules. At the same time, it favored United based in large part on its plan to connect travelers to Asia, which requires the early departure time. Whether United can get away with reusing one of its slots from the 6a hour for the new award remains to be seen.

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No doubt the winning airlines benefitted from the narrowly crafted wording used in the 2024 FAA reauthorization bill that caused the new slots to come into existence. That’s lobbying money well spent.

*This award is an “Order to Show Cause,” which allows those who did not win to offer up one final objection in an attempt to sway the DOT’s position. Such an effort is unlikely to be successful, but it will still likely happen.

The full DOT ruling can be found here.