The FAA, responding to several airline requests, extended its relaxed slot and scheduling usage waivers at New York-area airports and Reagan Washington National (DCA) through late October and plans to evaluate a possible winter-season extension separately.
Under the new provisions released Aug. 14, slot waivers put in place in March at New York JFK and LaGuardia (LGA) airports and DCA will stay in place through Oct. 28—the end of the IATA northern summer schedule season. Similar scheduling relief at Newark Liberty (EWR) will also be extended.
United Airlines, which has a hub at EWR, and Airlines For America both asked for the extension.
“Historically, slots and timings are set for entire seasons, enhancing predictability, and effecting the baseline for the next corresponding season,” United said in its request.
American Airlines asked for similar relief, adding that it believes some mitigations need to be established for the northern winter 2023-2024 season that starts Oct. 29.
“The FAA will address this request, and any other received request for the winter 2023/2024 season separately,” the agency said.
The waivers permit airlines to not use their slots, or “operating authorizations,” at the capacity-constrained airports without fear of having them pulled and given to another carrier. Airlines have until Sept. 2 to flag slots they will not use beyond Sept. 15.
The waivers were put in place to help ease U.S. East Coast airspace congestion due to staffing constraints at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility (N90). Despite several high-profile weather events that crippled flights at several of the airports in recent months, the strategy has been successful, the FAA said. Scheduled operations at the three New York-area airports were up 1% in the May 15-June 30 period, but cancellations were down 40% while ground-delay programs and ground stops were down 20%, the agency said.
“The FAA continues to monitor performance at N90 and assess options for addressing the staffing shortages,” it said.
Related Content
