United has also faulted ATC staffing challenges for recent delays and cancellations.
JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Īs an IATA Level 2 “schedule facilitated” airport, the DOT expects airlines to cooperate with the FAA to ensure scheduled operations do not exceed the airport’s limits of 79 runway movements per hour, spread across all carriers.īut executives at United–which controls around 70% of departures at EWR–have repeatedly blamed other operators for exacerbating the congestion by exceeding those limits on many days. JetBlue Airways-which is currently seeking to acquire Spirit through a hostile tender offer-also applied for all 16 runway timings, while Alaska Airlines had sought four.Īfter reviewing the competing bids, the DOT said it judged Spirit “will be best able to provide competition” consistent with the intent of the DOJ’s 2010 competition remedy, “and is most likely to provide the lowest fares to the most consumers.”Ī Spirit spokesperson said in a statement: “We’re pleased to see this process come to a conclusion, and we’ll continue to promote competition and offer affordable, high-value travel options for guests traveling in and out of the New York metropolitan area.”Īn Alaska spokesperson said the company is “disappointed” that it was not awarded additional Newark slots “despite being a proven competitor and having a smaller presence in the New York region than the other applicants … We will continue looking for opportunities to increase access to our caring service and low fares for guests in the northeast.” Florida-based Spirit was not the only US carrier to apply for the slot pairs.
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