Airlines hope to land in Newark with departure from Southwest

Southwest plans to stop flying from Newark, New Jersey, in November, after struggling to generate profits in that country and reducing its national capacity to account for the grounding of its fleet of vehicles.

Boeing
Co.

737 MAX jets. The absence of the carrier could free up capacity for other airlines to operate in Newark during peak hours.

Competitors, including

Spirit Airlines
Inc.

hope to take the looseness created by Southwest.

JetBlue

Airways Corp. stated that she was also monitoring openings, while

United Airlines Holdings
Inc.

does not want the authorities to approve new flights when the airport is already overloaded.

Officials from the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration are evaluating the possibility of letting another carrier add more flights or maintain the open schedule to ease the pressure on the airport. This illustrates the balance regulators need to balance between encouraging competition, which can lead to lower fares, and the risk of traffic jams that could disrupt airline operations and cause delays and cancellations.

A Spirit spokesperson said the departure from Southwest was a rare chance to expand into an overcrowded hub, where Spirit currently carries 14 daily flights. "Spirit is very interested in the growth of its modest operation in Newark," he said.

Southwest has offered up to 20 departures daily from Newark, many of which in the afternoons and evenings when the airport is busy.

JetBlue indicated that it was monitoring the potential redistribution of flight times from Southwest to Newark. "Access to gates and slots at restricted airports is one of the most pressing issues facing small airlines such as JetBlue," a spokesman said.

But United, which operates 70% of flights in Newark, according to data provider OAG Aviation, sees the Southwest exit as an opportunity to reduce overcrowding in what has become one of the airports most exposed to delays to states -United.

According to the US Department of Transportation, only 67% of flights to Newark arrived at the scheduled time last year, the worst rate of all major US airports and a deterioration compared to 75% in 2016. The backlog of the airport has repercussions on the rest of the world when people are deprived of connections.

A spokesman for United said the airline was in contact with federal officials working on Newark's congestion issues. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transportation said the FAA was reviewing applications received to use the capacity Southwest is abandoning in Newark.

At America's busiest and most congested airports, including other New York hubs, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia, the FAA is granting access to help keep things running smoothly.

The authorities also closely controlled capacity in Newark. Southwest recorded most of its arrival and departure slots there in 2010, when United and Continental Airlines had to eliminate some niches in order to allay the Department of Justice's concerns about the possibility that their merger eliminates their competitors. In a lawsuit in 2015, the US government challenged United's subsequent effort to acquire more slot machines in Newark, arguing that its dominant position in that country would hurt consumers.

After the FAA eased restrictions at Newark in 2016, opening the airport to increased competition, United abandoned its efforts and the lawsuit was dropped.

Since then, several airlines have expanded or added their services to Newark, including low-cost airlines that have helped lower fares and increase passenger numbers, according to port authorities in New York and New Jersey, who operate the airport.

The Port Authority said it was working with airlines to reduce delays, but also wanted to preserve consumer choice and ensure that there are affordable options.

"Limiting competition is not the solution to reducing congestion in Newark," said a spokeswoman for the authority.

The FAA still caps flights and airlines submit time requests for approval. The FAA lowered the number of flights arriving and departing in Newark from 81 to 79 hours, but the actual number exceeds that ceiling during certain parts of the day.

Traffic in Newark continues to grow outside the busiest hours. Last month, Frontier Airlines announced 15 new non-stop flights from Newark outside of what it described as the late afternoon.

Write to Alison Sider at [email protected]