US Airways vs Jet Blue: Slots in DCA. But We Own AA now..
US CEO Doug Parker exchanged some pointed remarks Thursday with David Barger, the CEO of JetBlue at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's 12th annual Aviation Summit. Barger said US Airways in Washington, D.C., once it completes its proposed $11 billion merger with AA The merger would give the combined airline two-thirds of the slots at Reagan National, a dominance that would not be in the public's interest, Barger said.
Plus, JetBlue would like to have some of those slots.
So would the post-merger American Airlines be willing to give up some of its slots at Reagan National?
"Absolutely not — nor should we," Parker said.
Parker argued that Barger, his "onetime friend," is seeing the slots in a vacuum, looking only at the overall number of spaces for airplanes. But Reagan National serves as a hub for US Airways, so many of its flights there are on smaller aircraft with fewer seats.
If one looks at the total number of seats flying out of Reagan National, Parker said, the new American Airlines will represent about half — "nothing remotely resembling anything violating antitrust law
