Four carriers win Reagan Airport slots

Four carriers win Reagan Airport slots

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/18379716/four-carriers-win-reagan-airport-slots

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Source: Dow Jones

WASHINGTON -- US regulators on Monday selected four airlines to start new flights from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a fierce seven-way contest for access to the facility, just outside Washington, D.C. 

Alaska Air Group Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., Southwest Airlines Co. and Virgin America were granted rights to each start a single daily flight. 

Seven carriers had vied to take advantage of loosening restrictions on flights between northern Virginia's Reagan National and longer-haul destinations such as the West Coast, sparking a lobbying battle involving airlines and cities keen to secure or retain access to the nation's capital. 

Four other airlines that already fly to Reagan were allowed to start longer flights, but they had to drop a service to a closer-in city as Reagan is congested and can only add a limited number of new services. 

Air Canada, Sun Country Airlines and the Frontier Airlines unit of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. lost out in the contest for new Reagan flights. 

Alaska will launch a flight to Portland, Ore., JetBlue will fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Southwest is adding an Austin, Texas, service and Virgin America is cleared to operate to its San Francisco base. All except Southwest had applied to launch two daily flights but received permission to start just one. 

The US Department of Transportation's move will nearly double the number of flights allowed to operate from Reagan to airports more than 1,250 miles away, diluting restrictions in place since the 1960s. 

Four incumbent carriers at Reagan -- units of AMR Corp. and United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. -- are splitting four new round-trip flights between them. 

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