Southwest Airlines Among Three Carriers Awarded New Flights
On February 9, 2016 the Long Beach Airport, working with the City Attorney’s Office and outside counsel, conducted the initial allocation of nine (9) slots available for Air Carrier operations at Long Beach Airport. Through a prescribed allocation process, the initial results are as follows:
Southwest – 4
JetBlue – 3
Delta – 2
Southwest announced its interest in serving LGB yesterday at a large employee gathering, and that there will be a subsequent news release to restate that interest. A total of three letters of interest were received by the February 8, 2016 deadline from Air Carriers. The Air Carriers’ letter of interest requested slots as follows:
Southwest, requesting 9 slots
JetBlue, requesting 9 slots
Delta, requesting 2 slots
The allocation process is not yet complete, however, Southwest is aware that it would receive four (4) slots in this allocation. The company will need to determine whether that level of capacity makes initiating LGB service financially viable.
Long Beach Airport is in the process of drafting an Allocation Award letter to each of the three airlines, and anticipate those being distributed soon says Stephanie Montoya-Morsky spokesperson for Long Beach Airport. That letter will provide detailed instructions to the carriers of the requirements to accept and begin operation of slots. Carriers have up to 180 days from the point of notification to begin operations, and 90 days to make flights available for sale.”