Alaska Airlines yesterday was awarded two highly coveted slot exemptions by the US Dept. of Transportation to launch daily nonstop flights from Reagan Washington National Airport to Los Angeles International.
The flights, which will be operated using a 120-seat 737-700, will begin June 7. “To say we’re excited about this opportunity would be an understatement,” Alaska CEO Bill Ayer said. Although it has not fully embraced the low-fare pricing model, Alaska has been moving steadily in that direction.
The carrier also was awarded authority to add a second daily nonstop flight between Reagan National and Seattle. This flight is expected to launch June 6. It will be operated using a 737-700 as well.
Additionally, for “beyond-perimeter” flights DOT awarded two slot exemptions at DCA to America West Airlines for service to Phoenix, four to Frontier Airlines for service to Denver and two to United Airlines also for service to Denver. The agency said nine carriers sought the 44 beyond-perimeter slots.
For services “within the perimeter” from DCA, DOT granted two exemptions each to AirTran Airways for service to Atlanta, Comair for service to Jackson (Miss.) or Lexington, Midwest Airlines for service to Kansas City, Spirit Airlines for service to Detroit and US Airways for service to Asheville, Chattanooga or Wilmington (N.C). The agency said six carriers in total applied for the 30 within-perimeter slots.
DOT last granted new slots at Reagan National in July 2000, awarding 12 exemptions for within-perimeter and 12 for beyond-perimeter operations.
By: greekdude1 - 2nd April 2004 at 18:28
Traditionally, Reagan National (DCA) operations had to fall within a 1,250 mile radius. A few years ago, they decided to allow ops beyond this radius classifying them as “beyond-perimeter,” which subsequently meant that the normal ops were “within-perimeter.” I recall TWA was granted some of the original “beyond-perimter” slots allowing them to operate DCA-LAX non-stop. They got swallowed up by AA shortly thereafter, so I don’t think those ever got started. Interesting that none of the bigboys applied for the LAX-DCA slot and that Alaska, who doesn’t have a really big LAX operation, did.
By: tenthije - 2nd April 2004 at 11:14
What’s the difference between within- and beyond-perimeter?
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April 2, 2004 at 10:53 am