- American Airlines and JetBlue Airways are facing an antitrust case against the Northeast Alliance.
- American CCO Vasu Raja stated Friday that he can’t find enough New York airport slots during the trial.
- He explained that the carrier lost seven slots at New York’s JFK airport and had to give them up.
American Airlines could have flown more planes into one of the busiest airports in the country — but it forgot.
American and JetBlue Airways currently face an antitrust case after the US Department of Transportation suedThe pair were separated in September 2021 due to concerns about their Strategic Northeast AllianceThis will reduce competition in New York, Boston.
Vasu Raja, American’s chief commercial officers, said Friday in court that the company made a huge mistake in 2013, when it merged with US Airways. It miscounted how many “slots” at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to The Points Guy.
Raja stated, “Accounting and combining slot after the merger was manual.” “There’s no good cause, and I’m a little surprised that it happened.”
Slots GrantThe Federal Aviation Administration gives permission to an airline to operate an airplane at a certain airport. These slots are for takeoff and landing, and can only be used once per day. The FAA may take them away.
American maintained during the trial that it needed to have an alliance with JetBlue New York in order to remain competitive in the market. It can’t get new slots at New York-JFK because of congestion.
American could have had an edge in the market if American lost some openings, but Raja, who was once the network’s chief, stated that the team “lost track of” the slots. per Bloomberg. The FAA subsequently took seven slots.
He admitted that it was “for the worst of reasons.” “It makes it sound completely absurd.”
American told Insider by email that they do not have any further comments beyond the statements Raja made at the trial.
An email sent in court revealed that there was more confusion about the number of slots American had after this realization. Raja claimed that American believed it had 216 slots while the FAA only counted 200. However, the two agreed that the carrier could keep 210.
Surprising revelation United Airlines pulls out from JFK. Chicago-based Airline returned to the airport on February 20, 2021, having rented temporary slots from other airlines. The FAA has not yet granted permanent openings.
United will stop operating at the airport on October 29, but plans to “return JFK as quickly as possible,” according to the memo.
