A New York-based airline is taking advantage of a rare opportunity to expand its presence at one of the city’s three major airports.
JetBlue has won an auction for departure and arrival slots at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) being sold by now-defunct low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines.
Under the deal, JetBlue will pay $58.5 million for Spirit’s 12 daily departure slots and 10 arrivals slots at LGA, according to Reuters.
The chance to purchase the slots is significant because LaGuardia is a busy and highly regulated airport, with the FAA limiting the number of takeoffs and landings each airline is allowed to operate.
As such, carriers don’t receive many opportunities to expand their routes at LGA or New York JFK, which is similarly regulated.
JetBlue said that with the new slots, it’s looking at potentially adding 12 new roundtrip flights from LaGuardia in 2027, Reuters says.
However, Spirit’s sale of the slots needs final approval from federal bankruptcy court on July 22 before the deal is official.
The sale of the LGA slots is the latest way US carriers are expanding their route networks in response to Spirit’s bankruptcy, which was announced in early May 2026.
Frontier Airlines, for instance, has been launching new routes across the country that were formerly operated by Spirit.
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