In a response to the U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed rulemaking on the airlines' slot transaction at New York's LaGuardia and Washington's Reagan-National airports, Delta Air Lines (DAL) and US Airways (LCC) said that they are disappointed in the DOT's decision that, if implemented, would negatively impact the consumer and economic benefits created by the proposed transaction by divesting 16% of the transaction at New York's LaGuardia Airport and 33 percent of the transaction at Washington-National. Chief among those benefits is the ability for both airlines to maintain and add new nonstop service between two of America's top business markets and small- and medium-sized communities across the United States.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways expect that if this order is implemented as proposed the transaction will not go forward and significant consumer benefits will never be realized. Both airlines will review the DOT's proposed rulemaking to determine its next steps.
In its decision, DOT said it would require the airlines to divest 20 of the 125 slot pairs involved at New York-LaGuardia and 14 of the 42 slot pairs at Washington-National.
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