JetBlue tentatively wins 22 Spirit LaGuardia
The FAA has tentatively approved JetBlue's $58.5 million purchase of 22 LaGuardia slots from defunct Spirit Airlines, pending a 20-day comment period.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has tentatively approved JetBlue Airways' purchase of 22 LaGuardia Airport slots from the collapsed Spirit Airlines for $58.5 million. The carrier narrowly beat a $57.5 million bid from Frontier Airlines to win the slots, with final confirmation awaiting a 20-day public comment period.
It isn't just airport slots that are being contested in Spirit's wake. Alphabet Inc.'s Google AI had attempted to purchase the defunct carrier's business data for $10 million for AI training purposes. However, Yahoo Finance reported that the deal has been delayed following a formal objection from Spirit's cabin crew.
FAA's Tentative Slot Approval
The FAA has placed a Federal Register notice on public inspection explaining its tentative approval of JetBlue's acquisition of 12 departure and ten arrival slots. The notice will be officially published on August 31, after which a 20-day comment period will begin.
If the purchase is finalized, JetBlue must adhere to strict conditions. The carrier will be forbidden from leasing the slots to another airline until April 2028 and cannot sell them outright. The FAA retains the authority to withdraw access if the slots are misused.
In its notice, the FAA stated: "Approving the sale of Spirit’s 22 slots to JetBlue ensures that scarce public airspace resources are returned to active commercial service under a proven low-fare business model. [The] FAA tentatively finds that the proposed transaction offers important benefits to the public."
Impact on LaGuardia Slot Distribution
The 22 slots will increase JetBlue's LaGuardia portfolio by 71%, rising from 31 to 53 slots. The airline plans to use them to introduce 12 additional daily round-trips from the airport by 2027.
Despite this growth, JetBlue's share of the constrained airport will remain relatively small. The following table, based on data from the source, shows the shift in slot holdings:
| Carrier | Slots Held (Before) | Slots Held (After) | Share of Total 1,141 Slots (After) |
|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 31 | 53 | 4.6% |
| Delta Air Lines & American Airlines | 838 | 838 | 73.4% |
JetBlue's share will rise from 2.7% to 4.6% of LaGuardia's 1,141 carrier-held slots. A five percent share was historically the threshold for identifying airlines with a limited presence at slot-controlled airports like LaGuardia. Data from OAG's Schedules Analyzer for summer 2026 shows Delta Air Lines alone commands a 44.6% share of total capacity.
The FAA's tentative conclusion is that granting JetBlue additional slots will enable it to provide meaningful competition to the dominant incumbents.
Cabin Crew Blocks Google AI Data Bid
Separate from the slot sale, Spirit's corporate data has also been a contested asset. Alphabet Inc.'s Google AI had bid $10 million for data including worker emails, spreadsheets, operations records, and chat messages to train AI models. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, representing Spirit's former cabin crew, has delayed the sale.
The union has argued that the data sets contain sufficient information to identify the individuals within them. With the sale blocked, this data appears unavailable as Spirit sells off assets in bankruptcy. The $10 million offer is noted as minimal compared to Alphabet Inc.'s 2026 AI infrastructure spending forecast of up to $205 billion.
Source: Simple Flying