Saw this release earlier this morning and thought that it may be of interest. Looks like the Department of Transportation has opened up bidding for slots at the airports mentioned in the title.
This is being driven by a trade of slots between Delta and US Air. In this arrangement, Delta will trade 42 pairs of daily slots with US Air at Reagan National, who in turn trades 132 pairs of daily slots at LaGuardia. A pair of slots is simply one takeoff and one landing. I thought this was interesting as they are not alliance partners, and actually direct competitors.
As a condition of this arrangement the DOT (Department of Transportation) is mandating that each airline give up a few slots at each airport to help foster a more competitive environment. It is these slots that are now up for auction.
To be able to bid for these open slots, an airline must currently be operating less than 5 percent of the total slots at either of these 2 airports.
For the full story click HERE to be take to the full article.
