A quick update on the route award actions before the U.S. Department of Transportation that effect US Airways and Charlotte:
• DCA route award. A set of slots at Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) that US Airways was hoping to obtain were instead awarded to Southwest Airlines for Houston Hobby service. Us Airways said that if granted the slots, it would have used them for an Oklahoma City (OKC) flight. In addition, it would have started twice-daily Charlotte-Oklahoma City flights. Adding both flights to both CLT and DCA like this is also exactly how US Airways started service to the East from Des Moines and Omaha last year.
The airline remains free, of course, to use one of its 240+ slots at DCA to begin OKC service — with CLT servive thrown in. It will be interesting to see it chooses to do so. Don’t expect an announcement if it comes until after the US Airways/American Airlines merger closes. The combined airline’s slot holdings at DCA is a major concern for federal regulators and the new American may have to give up some slots to obtain anti-trust approval. It’s hard to know if Oklahoma City would be a good use for a slot until you know how many slots you actually have.
• Brazil route awards for fall 2013 and fall 2014. Which is to say Sao Paulo rights for those two years, as all restrictions on the number of flights to Brazil end in fall 2015. US Airways starts daily Charlotte-Sao Paulo service next month. It does not, however, own the rights it will be using for those flights. Rather it is leasing them from United and the lease apparently now only runs through Sept. 30, 2014. Thus the need to obtain some of the frequencies that become available in 2014. Oddly, US Airways has the rights covered from spring 2015 on though, as a provision of the Delta/US Airways slot swap at New York City’s LaGuardia and Reagan National airports then gives US Airways the seven weekly rights that Delta is currently using for its Detroit-Sao Paulo service.
The Delta and US Airways applications are about as snarky as you’d imagine. US Airways could also win the battle and lose the war, gaining 2014 route authorities only to have to give them up as part of an anti-trust agreement to get its merger with American Airlines approved. (American is the dominate carrier to South America — having a hub in Miami will do that.) American could, in theory, also shift some of the weekly Sao Paulo flights it’s allowed to fly to CLT to compensate for either not winning 2014 rights or winning and then having to give them up for anti-trust grounds. So yes, Sao Paulo, definitely soon, but then maybe.
