by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:45 AM ET, Sat December 7, 2019
Spirit Airlines has filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) after the agency did not reallocate landing and takeoff rights once held by Southwest Airlines at a New York area airport.
The lawsuit was filed in November in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and claimed the DOT's decision not to award 16 vacant landing and takeoff rights for Newark Liberty International Airport was "not in accordance with law."
According to The Points Guy, the DOT made the decision to not reallocate the slots on October 2, a move Spirit officials called "arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law" as part of its lawsuit.
While DOT decision-makers said the reduced number of landing and takeoff slots during peak periods would reduce congestion at the busy airport, Spirit is fighting for increased access at Newark heading into the always high-volume summer travel season.
The court set a January 2 deadline for the first replies and motions in the case.
The Florida-based low-cost carrier has been growing its presence at the New Jersey airport over the recent months, with new service to Puerto Rico launching on December 19 and flights to Austin debuting on March 26, 2020.
A Spirit spokesperson released the following comment about the lawsuit to TravelPulse:
Spirit Airlines believes the appeal is necessary to protect competition at Newark Liberty International Airport and ensure that low fare alternatives are available to consumers.
The Department of Transportation's decision to retire the landing rights previously operated by Southwest Airlines, will mean that United Airlines holds nearly 80 percent of the authorizations at one of the busiest airports in the country and would operate more than 90 monopoly routes.
The allocations were originally set aside specifically to remedy the competitive situation at Newark International Airport as a condition of approving the Continental / United merger. The need for this competitive counterweight still exists today. While we acknowledge that the airport has operational challenges, the remedy shouldn't be to retire competitive capacity.
Rather, all carriers should shoulder the burden in a proportional manner to mitigate delays at the airport, while still preserving competition for consumers.
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