The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just extended the slot waiver program for New York area airports for a full additional year, through late 2025. Is this a smart move to reduce delays, or does it just reduce competition?
FAA slot waiver extended in New York area
Many congested airports around the globe are slot restricted, which means that airlines need slots in order to operate flights to and from them. Sometimes these slots are awarded on a merit basis, while other times they can be purchased and sold.
The catch is that most slots come with a “use it or lose it clause.” That’s to say that if airlines don’t use their slots at least a certain percentage of the time (typically 80%), then they can lose the slots. This is intended to avoid squat slotting, and the underutilization of airport resources. That way the slots can go to airlines that actually intend to use them.
Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen a slot waiver program in place for New York area airports, including New York Kennedy (JFK), New York LaGuardia (LGA), and Newark (EWR). Up until now, this waiver has been in place through the end of the IATA 2024 summer season (late October 2024). That has now been extended by an additional year, through the end of the IATA 2025 summer season (late October 2025).
The reason the slot waiver is being extended is due to an air traffic controller staffing shortage in the New York area, as the number of controllers in the area isn’t sufficient for normal traffic levels. Without increased flexibility, the FAA believes there could be delays and cancelations.
This slot concession is something that Airlines for America (A4A), a lobbying group representing the four biggest US airlines, has been fighting for:
“While the FAA made some progress in 2023, we anticipate an ongoing challenge in staffing of controllers that manage New York airspace through the end of Summer 2025 season based on FAA’s trending staffing data.”
Does the extended airline slot waiver make sense?
I can appreciate the idea behind airline slot waivers. For example, in March 2020, when global aviation came to a standstill, it made sense to give airlines waivers. Demand was down massively, and the situation was rapidly evolving, making it hard for airlines to plan their schedules.
But it has now been well over four years since the start of the pandemic, and we’re seeing a record number of travelers. At this point, airlines are sitting on slots they don’t intend to use, with the only goal being that they want to keep them out of the hands of competitors. Slot waivers are terrible for consumers, as they reduce competition, and lead to higher fares.
It’s ironic the extent to which the government is trying to increase competition and transparency in the airline industry (from blocking mergers, to changing how airlines can market fares), all while not sufficiently addressing the single biggest issue facing aviation, which is the air traffic controller shortage. Admittedly there are different parts of the government working on different things, but still, if you zoom out, it doesn’t look great…
I totally get that new air traffic controllers can’t be trained overnight, but it’s just quite sad that over four years after the start of the pandemic, we’re still seeing the same issues. With the latest extension, it’ll be approaching six years since the start of the pandemic…
As long as the slot waiver remains in place, American can continue to not commit to any strategy in the New York area, and just keep sitting on its JFK slots, despite a lack of a plan…
Bottom line
The slot waiver program in the New York area has just been extended by an additional year, through late October 2025. This is being done due to the air traffic controller shortage, to avoid delays as much as possible. Of course the airlines with slots at these airports are delighted, since they can limit competition for another year. Meanwhile consumers end up being the losers here, as less competition leads to higher fares…
What do you make of the FAA’s latest slot waiver extension?
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