Originally Posted by
Lux Flyer
But as has been pointed out, there's a good chance if this north east alliance between B6/AA is going to be allowed to stand, then B6/AA will have to divest some of these slots either through sale or forfeiture, which will likely allow UA the opportunity to scoop them up and be in the market. UA also makes a strong point that the last time the FAA evaluated JFK's capability was in 2008, and currently has only allocated 2 more operations per hour compared to EWR, despite JFK having numerous infrastructure upgrades in the past decade that would suggest it has the ability to support more capacity than is curently allocated via the slots.
True, but to be fair, United may not be the only airline who would want any slots that are forfeited, and some of the slots themselves might not be prime time slots. DOT might be more convinced by an application that uses the slots for new or underserved markets, domestically or internationally, and not just for an airline to add 10x daily frequencies on an already heavily served route.
The point that the last time the FAA evaluated JFK's capacity was 2008 is a good one, but the FAA is not going to do another assessment in fewer than 8 weeks, and they're not going to say, "You know what, you're right! We'll create some slots for you ASAP."