The Federal Aviation
Administration said it is allowing more capacity at Newark Airport, beginning
Oct. 30, because of the airport's "significant improvement in on-time
performance and delays."
Starting this month, the
FAA is inviting schedule submissions from carriers for the winter 2016 season.
Airlines must separately obtain terminal space and gates from the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, the operator of Newark Airport.
The FAA said it expects new
entrants to bring increased competition to the airport, which is dominated by
United Airlines. United controls about 73% of slots at Newark, according to the
Department of Justice. The DOJ sued United last November to prevent the airline
from making that percentage even higher via a slot-lease agreement with Delta.
Currently, Newark is
limited to 81 takeoffs and landings per hour, a restriction implemented in May 2008 to mitigate congestion.
The FAA said that on-time
gate arrivals at Newark have increased by about 11% when comparing May through
August 2015 to the same period in 2007. On-time gate departures improved by
approximately 3%, the FAA said.