To Slot, or Not To Slot

The Regional Jet Defense Coalition is not the only one contesting the new congestion rules the Federal Aviation Administration put in place recently. FAA has gone further proposing the reintroduction of slotteries as part of the reauthorization legislation. Legacy airlines serving the airports called the proposed rule a “government expropriation of their property” which could lead to higher air fares. Meanwhile, the Air Carriers Association of America, representing low cost carriers charge the mainline operators with hogging slots with the use of regional jet.
The proposed legislation also calls for congestion pricing which airlines are already contesting, adding that LGA is at peak throughout of the day. The proposal is an extension of last summer’s LaGuardia congestion rule which, the agency said would prevent airlines from obtaining monopoly power at congested airports.
While FAA would like to be able to remind the airlines that slots are a public resource, it is reversing itself since, in the 1980s, it created the slot market in the first place by selling off those resources to the airlines. Critics at the time predicted it would lead to private control of a government resources and lead to increased fares. In 2000, Congress passed legislation aimed at terminating the slot rules. As a result, airlines piled on flights creating increased congestion and gridlock. FAA imposed temporary limits that year, that have become permanent with the slot rule imposed last summer. Now it wants to maintain those caps and revert back to the slot process.
FAA now says that the action has given airlines that currently own the slots an advantage; something critics – and small communities – have known for years. But know FAA says it slots should be redistributed to better serve consumers. The FAA wants the auctions to accommodate small community needs.