AviationGeeks.com - Will the Southwest-AirTran deal change slot swap?

Delta and US Airways say that if Southwest and AirTran are allowed to merge, then that should give the combined entity enough slots at New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan National airports so that the first two airlines don't have to give up many of theirs. 

You may recall the Department of Transportation won't just let Delta and US Airways swap the slots at the airports that they want, requiring them instead to free some up for other airlines.  AirTran has a limited number of slots at LGA and DCA, and Southwest has a handful at LGA. But Southwest contends it has been shut out of getting any more DCA slots as part of the Delta-US Airways deal at a reasonable cost. Detail on that development can be found here.

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