Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines have sued the US Department of Travel (DOT). The dispute was over the allocation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, both airlines believing they should have two slots. They also stated that Alaska Airlines was ineligible due to its codeshare agreement with American Airlines.
January 2025
In January, Frontier Airlines appeared in front of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They petitioned for a review of DOT’s order which granted two slots exemptions and Washington National to Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United Airlines.
A ‘slot’ is the authorisation to use an airport’s full range of infrastructure. These slots allowed those airlines to operate non-stop services beyond the airport’s 1,250 mile perimeter. Additionally, Alaska was granted the slots to operate a daily service from Washington to San Diego.
Frontier argued they should have qualified for a “limited incumbent” (when a carrier possesses less than 40 slots at an airport), and should have received the two exemption slots granted to Alaska Airlines. However, DOT ruled that Frontier was a “new entrant” who never actually owned permanent slots at Washington National.
Frontier continued that Alaska Airlines should not have been granted the slots due to its codeshare partnership with American. They stated this partnership already provides “meaningful access to the DCA market”. Alaska then involved itself within the lawsuit after requesting the court’s authorisation to defend itself. Thus, Alaska sided with the US Department of Transport.
March 2025
In March, Spirit Airlines joined the fray, supporting Frontier. However, Spirit claimed that it should have been considered a “limited incumbent” rather than Frontier. They said that, while the airline does not currently operate at DCA (Washington National), they previously did between 2008 and 2012. Specifically, Spirit flew from DCA to Fort Lauderdale International and Myrtle Beach International.
Spirit then insisted the court to vacate DOT’s final order relating to two limited incumbent slot exemptions. Then, it urged that they should recognise Alaska is statutorily barred from receiving these slots. Finally, the carrier said that the court should direct DOT to reallocate these slots, allowing Spirit and Frontier to compete with their proposals.
Frontier Airlines plans to be able to operate a daily service from Washington to San Juan International. Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines wants to serve San José. These services would provide a new, accessible nonstop service to passengers across North America.
The two airlines have a love-hate relationship. Recently, Spirit rejected a merge with Frontier.
An Alaska spokesperson declared that DOT’s decision came after a few months of consideration:
The new SAN-DCA roundtrip flights fulfil Congress’s key objective of connecting airports that currently do not have nonstop service, providing passengers to and from the eighth-largest US city, including the nation’s largest military community, with new and better options. We look forward to launching the service on March 17.
What do you think of the Frontier-Spirit drama? Let us know in the comments!
