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Alexander Van der Bellen 

Managing Director and 

Associate General Counsel 

Delta Air Lines, Inc. 

1212 New York Avenue NW 

Washington, DC 20005 

202.842.4184 

Sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com 

via electronic mail 

May 31, 2011 

Mr. Marc Warren 

Acting Chief Counsel, AGC-1 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue, SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

Dear Mr. Warren: 

Delta Air Lines (“Delta”) requests a waiver of the minimum slot usage requirements for 

LaGuardia Airport (“LGA”) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (“DCA”) during 

January and February 2011. While Delta experienced cancellations and operational issues at 

the other New York airports also, the longer reporting period at Newark Liberty International 

Airport (“EWR”) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK”) provided a greater 

opportunity to recover slot utilization. Specifically, Delta requests a limited waiver at LGA and 

DCA only for the three severe winter snowstorms concentrated in the Northeast on January 11 

and 12, January 26 and 27, and February 1 and 2 for the slots listed on the attached sheet. 

Delta’s planned utilization for the majority of these slots was between 90-100%. This utilization 

allowed room for a reasonable amount of unexpected cancellations during the day to day 

operation of Delta’s network. However, the record snowfalls in the New York area during 

January and February 2011 (three back to back snow storms lasting two days each) caused 

significant cancellations that made it impossible to reach 80% utilization. 

The effects of these snow events during these six days were extraordinary and lingering. They 

severely disrupted operations at LGA and DCA causing nearly 850 cancellations for Delta during 

these impacted slot periods. Delta’s operations were further impacted due to related severe 

weather events including icing in Atlanta which caused cancellations in LGA and DCA. With 

each episode, Delta implemented network recovery plans by canceling flights in advance of the 

storms to avoid stranding passengers. We also repositioned aircraft and flight crews to resume 

scheduled operations after the storms passed causing further disorder to our regular 

operations. Due to the severity and repetitiveness of the January and February storms, this 

process was very time consuming and severely impacted regular scheduled services. 

These severe and frequent snowstorms were highly unusual, unpredictable, and beyond our 

control. Delta scheduled these slots between 90-100% utilization and would have far exceeded 

the 80% utilization requirement but for the repeated and unusual weather conditions which 

restricted operations for extended periods of time. 
Mr. Marc Warren 

May 31, 2011 

Page 2 

Due to the reasons stated above, Delta respectfully requests a waiver of the slot usage rules at 

LGA and DCA for January 11, 12, 26 and 27 and February 1 and 2. 

Sincerely, 

Alexander Van der Bellen 

 

 

cc: Jennifer Sayre 

 Rob Hawks 

 Brian Meehan 

Attachment 
Total Planned Planned Total Actual Actual Cancels on 6 U

Airport Time Slot ID Holdings Schedule Utilization Cancels Operated Utilization Waiver Dates with W

LGA 0600D 3741 199 197 98.99% 41 156 78.39% 21 8LGA 0630A 2223 41 37 90.24% 8 29 70.73% 4 8LGA 0700A 2663 82 81 98.78% 19 62 75.61% 7 8LGA 0730A 3722 246 239 97.15% 49 190 77.24% 24 8LGA 0800D 3704 163 161 98.77% 33 128 78.53% 14 8LGA 0830A 3695 129 119 92.25% 19 100 77.52% 13 8LGA 0830D 35034 259 242 93.44% 46 196 75.68% 25 8LGA 0900A 35129 118 102 86.44% 17 85 72.03% 12 8LGA 0900D 3875 287 277 96.52% 51 226 78.75% 31 8LGA 0930A 4306 442 425 96.15% 81 344 77.83% 42 8LGA 1000A 3313 165 151 91.52% 28 123 74.55% 20 8LGA 1000D 3942 325 310 95.38% 54 256 78.77% 35 8LGA 1100A 2840 157 154 98.09% 33 121 77.07% 18 8LGA 1130A 35148 205 201 98.05% 46 155 75.61% 23 8LGA 1200A 35092 340 301 88.53% 46 255 75.00% 33 8LGA 1300A 35023 116 104 89.66% 12 92 79.31% 12 8LGA 1400A 35135 272 253 93.01% 39 214 78.68% 24 8LGA 2030D 35161 194 168 86.60% 16 152 78.35% 18 8

DCA 1900N 11010 699 618 88.41% 69 549 78.54% 33 8