United drops bid to buy Newark flying rights from Delta

United Continental abandoned a plan to buy more landing rights at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, almost five months after the US sued to block the deal due to the carrier’s already dominant market share. The airline gave up the effort to purchase 24 takeoff-and-landing authorizations, or “slots,” from Delta, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The deal would have subjected Newark passengers to higher fares and fewer choices since United already has 73% of slots, the government said in a November lawsuit. This is the third time in the last two years that United failed to gain more rights at Newark, where the carrier is focusing all of its New York-area flying after pulling out of JFK. United’s decision follows the FAA’s announcement last week that it would allow carriers to apply to offer new service at Newark for the first time since 2008. “United has used its slots monopoly to dominate air travel in and out of Newark,” assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said in a statement. “The FAA’s action opens up Newark to more robust competition and achieves the very outcome we sought in litigation: protecting consumers from United’s plan to enlarge its monopoly at Newark.”<br/>