Regulatory Alert: DOT Tentatively Grants DCA Slot Exemptions for New Nonstop Roundtrip Service
DOT Tentatively Grants DCA Slot Exemptions for New Nonstop Roundtrip Service
October 16, 2024
This afternoon, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) tentatively granted ten slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to five eligible air carriers to operate five new nonstop roundtrip flights from DCA, as required by Congress through the FAA Reauthorization Act that passed in May. The exemptions were granted to:
- Alaska Airlines for service to San Diego International Airport (SAN);
- American Airlines for service to San Antonio International Airport (SAT);
- Delta Air Lines for service to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA);
- Southwest Airlines for service to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS); and
- United Airlines for service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
You can view DOT’s order here. DOT uses the term “tentative” because interested persons have up to 14 days to raise objections to today’s order. If no objections are raised or upon consideration of any concerns that are raised, the department may move forward with issuing a final order. The five carriers would then be expected to inaugurate full service within a “reasonable timeframe,” or about 90 days from the date of the final order.
Background. As part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which was signed into law on May 16, Congress authorized ten new slot exemptions (or five round-trip flights) at DCA for service to domestic airports that are located either within or beyond the 1,250-mile perimeter. Eight of the exemptions (four round trips) were reserved for carriers qualifying as “non-limited incumbent carriers,” which included American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. Two of the exemptions (one round trip) were reserved for “limited incumbent carriers,” which included Alaska Airlines and Air Canada. Any one carrier was limited to receiving no more or less than two exemptions (one round trip).
Summary of DOT’s Order. On June 24, DOT requested applications for the ten new slot exemptions made available by the FAA reauthorization law. The department received applications from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines. In reviewing applications submitted, DOT was required to consider the extent to which exemptions (a) will enhance options for nonstop travel to beyond-perimeter airports that do not have nonstop service from DCA; or (b) have a positive impact on the overall level of competition in the markets that will be served as a result of the exemptions.
One of the major issues that arose during deliberations was whether Frontier and Spirit were eligible for two of the exemptions that were reserved for “limited incumbent carriers,” which requires a carrier to be operating at DCA as of May 2024 and to have held DCA slots (rather than slot exemptions) at some point since 1985. DOT concluded that neither airline was eligible. DOT dismissed an application from Frontier because the airline had never held any slots at DCA even though it was operating at the airport in May 2024. In contrast, while Spirit had previously held and sold DCA slots (between 2003 and 2012), the airline was not operating at DCA as of May 2024 when the FAA reauthorization law passed.
What’s Next? DOT has published its order tentatively granting ten slot exemptions at DCA to five airlines for new roundtrip service from the airport. Any person has until Wednesday, October 30, to raise objections. If no objections are raised or upon consideration of any concerns that are raised, the department may move forward with issuing a final order. The five carriers would then be expected to inaugurate full service within a “reasonable timeframe,” or about 90 days from the date of the final order. If no objections are raised, this means carriers could reasonably be expected to begin operations by the end of January 2025.
