Spirit Airlines, Port Authority at odds over LaGuardia flight sale
All Spirit Airlines wants is top dollar for its sought-after landing rights at New York City's LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
The bankrupt carrier that shut down business operations May 2 wants to auction its 22 takeoff and landing rights, otherwise known as "slots," on July 9. By the airline's estimate, the portfolio could fetch at least $87 million.
Not so fast.
Spirit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the agency that operates LGA) are at odds over the auction.
"Slots themselves do not have intrinsic value without corresponding permission from the airport sponsor to utilize particular facilities at the airport, which is not and could not be auctioned alongside the slots themselves," the Port told a bankruptcy court June 3 in an objection to the auction.
Related: What are airport slots, and how do they affect your flights?
The Port went further to say that slots themselves are not "fungible and transferable."
Spirit believes otherwise. In a response filed on Monday, the airline asked the court to dismiss the Port's objection.
"The Port Authority's core assertion — that [Spirit is] blithely unaware of the regulatory framework governing the LGA Slots — is flatly untrue, something the Port Authority could have instantly known had they merely called to ask," the airline wrote.
Spirit added that it is working closely with all "relevant federal authorities" on the proposed transaction.
Historically, airlines have traded and sold slots at LGA with federal and Port Authority approvals. American Airlines transferred slots at LGA and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to JetBlue Airways under their former Northeast Alliance in 2021 and 2022 without Port objection. And, in 2011, Delta Air Lines and US Airways — now part of American Airlines — agreed to a large slot swap deal that saw the former gain 132 slot pairs at LGA in exchange for transferring the latter 42 slot pairs at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
Both transactions required regulatory approval and, in the case of Delta and US Airways, some modifications to meet antitrust muster. But otherwise, they proceeded unimpeded.
Federal Aviation Administration administrator Bryan Bedford said in May that he wants another budget airline to acquire Spirit's LGA slots.
Frontier Airlines is widely considered a strong candidate for Spirit's LGA slots, but really any airline could place a bid, including American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines.
A bankruptcy court hearing on the proposed LGA slot auction is scheduled for June 10.