Delta, US Airways strike new agreement, object to DOT requirement

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delta Air Lines and US Airways announced a revised plan to swap flying rights at New York and Washington, D.C. airports that involves divesting some of the rights to AirTran Airways and three other low-cost carriers.

The revised plan is an attempt by Delta and US Airways to side-step a proposed requirement from the U.S. Department of Transportation that they sell 14 takeoff and landing slots at Washington's Reagan National Airport and 20 at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The DOT's requirement, which came after the Justice Department indicated it planned to challenge the deal, was aimed at reducing harm to consumers from the airlines' market dominance at each airport.

The slot swap is part of Delta's strategy to expand in New York. Delta  had originally planned to transfer 42 slot pairs to US Airways at Reagan, with US Airways transferring 125 slot pairs to Delta at LaGuardia.

The DOT in its conditional approval wanted to require the airlines to sell the slot pairs to carriers new to those airports or with limited service there. 

Now, Delta and US Airways say they have struck deals with AirTran, Spirit and WestJet, which would each get five slot pairs at LaGuardia. JetBlue would get 4.5 slot pairs at Reagan. The airlines did not disclose the sale price for the slot pairs. Southwest, which was not included in the plan but wants some of the slots, told the DOT the deal is not in the public interest and questioned Delta's plan to establish a hub at LaGuardia.

Delta and US Airways on Monday challenged the legal basis for the DOT's requirement that they divest slots and said they will not do the deal under the DOT's conditions.