Salt Lake beats Vegas for more Washington flights

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

Two airlines that had made proposals to take over two vacant slots for flights between Las Vegas and Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport have lost their bids.

The U.S. Department of Transportation last week announced that the two slots formerly held by defunct Las Vegas carrier National Airlines have been awarded to Delta Air Lines for flights between Salt Lake City and Washington. A "slot" is a takeoff or landing. The Atlanta-based airline announced that it would begin daily service in early 2003.

America West Airlines, which offers a single nonstop round trip between Reagan National and Las Vegas, and US Airways, which has a minor presence in Las Vegas, had each submitted bids to the Department of Transportation to use the slots for Las Vegas service.

Reagan National Airport, located minutes from the Capitol and favored by lawmakers for quick departures from government business, is restricted in the number of flights it has to and from destinations outside a 1,250-mile perimeter. National Airlines and America West were among the winners when 12 new slots for flights beyond the perimeter were offered to airlines on a competitive basis in 1999.

When Reagan National prohibited aircraft with more than 156 seats from landing at the airport following the terrorist attacks, National Airlines reluctantly withdrew from the market, then reallocated its planes to other flights before the big-plane ban was lifted. That opened the door for the Department of Transportation to offer the two National Airlines slots to competitors last fall.

In addition to bids from America West, US Airways and Delta, the Department of Transportation received flight proposals from United, American, Alaska and Frontier airlines for service to Los Angeles, San Jose, Calif., and Denver.