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Will Slot Auctions Save New York's Airports?

At the end of last week, the Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters proposed that Newark International and JFK auction off landing slots to increase competition at both airports. As long as takeoffs and landings are capped, the feds are worried that ticket prices could go up while the quality of service at New York's airports goes down.

To keep that from happening, the DOT wants to take a small portion of landing slots from all the airlines and sell 'em. The idea is that the auction will open up the market to new competitors and keep things fair--except for the whole "We took your landing slots" part of the plan, of course.

But will this slot selling--which has never been attempted at a major airport--actually spark competition? Industry watcher Brett Snyder doesn't think so:

In the end we'll probably see airlines like Continental bid high for Newark slots so they can keep the ones they have now and possibly even gain some more. The low cost carriers? Well, there's a reason they're low cost. They probably won't be able to afford the price of entry.

Related Stories:
· DOT Issues Recommendations for Reducing Delays [BNet]
· US Plans Steps to Ease Congestion at Airports [NYT]
· New York Area Airports coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: triplexpresso]