US to award Newark flights to low-cost carrier to spur competition

The Biden administration will announce on Thursday it plans to award 16 slots for flights at Newark International airport in New Jersey to a low-cost carrier to spur competition at the busy northeast US airport. The US Justice Department had urged transportation officials to decline to retire the 16 Newark slots and instead make them available in order to spur competition, according to a source familiar with the matter. Separately, the FAA will announce it is extending temporary waivers of minimum flight requirements at some major US airports through late March 2022 for international operations because of the coronavirus pandemic, sources said. Airlines can lose their slots at congested airports if they do not use them at least 80% of the time. The FAA is proposing extending temporary waivers of the requirements at New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that were to expire in late October. United, which has a hub at Newark, flies about 65% of all Newark flights. Newark was the 15th-busiest US airport in 2020 by total passengers. “Opening up more slots at Newark to lower cost carriers will provide air travelers with more choices and lower prices,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg. In a joint notice, the Transportation Department and FAA said without the reassignment of the slots to a low-cost carrier “it is highly unlikely that there will be any significant reduction in fares.”<br/>