JetBlue Wins FAA Approval for LaGuardia Slot Acquisition

JetBlue Airways Corp secured final regulatory authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday to acquire 22 takeoff and landing slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The airline purchased the slots from Spirit Airlines LLC for $58.5 million during a court-supervised auction in June, following the cessation of Spirit's passenger operations in May 2026 and its subsequent liquidation.

To facilitate the operational rollout, the Federal Aviation Administration granted JetBlue a temporary usage waiver through April 2027. This waiver protects the airline from use-or-lose rules, although JetBlue is prohibited from leasing or trading the slots until after April 2028.

Federal regulators rejected objections from other low-cost carriers who raised concerns about market concentration. The agency cited JetBlue's limited overall slot capacity at the airport and argued that the acquisition helps check the dominance of legacy network carriers.