The Department of Transportation has tentatively redistributed
the landing rights in Mexico City and New York that it is requiring Delta and
Aeromexico to surrender under the terms of the antitrust immunity approval the DOT
awarded in December.
In an order issued Thursday, three U.S. carriers received
all that they requested.
Alaska has been tentatively approved to operate four daily
flights beginning this summer to Mexico City -- two from Los Angeles, one from
San Francisco and one from San Diego.
Southwest's request for the right to fly twice daily
beginning this summer between Mexico City and Houston Hobby was tentatively
approved, and the DOT looked favorably on Southwest's request for slots opening
in summer 2018 to service Mexico City daily out of Fort Lauderdale and Los
Angeles.
JetBlue tentatively won the right to fly twice daily to
Mexico City beginning this summer from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and twice
daily beginning next summer from Los Angeles.
The DOT was less generous to Mexican carriers Volaris and
especially VivaAerobus in their requests for slots in Mexico City and New York,
where the Delta/Aeromexico partnership had to surrender four daily landing
rights. Volaris lost out in its landing right request for flights from JFK to
Cancun, but was tentatively approved for nine other daily or semi-daily routes
between the U.S. and Mexico City.
VivaAerobus, which the DOT noted doesn't offer connecting
flights out of Mexico City, won approval for three landing slots but lost out
on applications to fly to Mexico City from Los Angeles, San Antonio, Oakland,
Houston Bush Intercontinental and Chicago.
Interjet tentatively won its lone request for slots,
facilitating a New York-Mexico City flight beginning this summer.
In exchange for allowing Delta and Aeromexico to jointly
schedule, market and operate U.S.-Mexico flights, the DOT ruled that the
partnership must redistribute 28 landing rights in slot-constrained Kennedy and
Benito Juarez airport to low-cost carriers to bolster competition.
The applicants have until March 10 to submit objections to
the tentative DOT order.