A brake on competition: The ongoing conundrum of airport slots

The effect of slot allocations on airlines, airports and travelers is a constant across the globe, but only surfaces from time to time when a high profile request draws public attention and comment. The recent announcement that the US Department of Transportation (DoT) was willing to approve a slot swap between Delta and US Airways involving New York's LaGuardia and Washington's Reagan National has once again brought the issue to the fore. The case has been in dispute for a very long time and has drawn attention from competing airlines as well as consumer groups and the global airports group, Airports Council International (ACI). All have given this decision a thumbs down.