SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

Robert W. Kneisley

Associate General Counsel
1901 L Street, N.W., Suite 640 Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 263

- 6284 (202) 263

- 6291

- Fax Bob.kneisley@wnco.com

_______________________________________________________________________________

July 5, 2012

V ia email

Kathryn B. Thomson

Chief Counsel

Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20591 kathryn.thomson@faa.gov

Re: Request for Limited Waiver from DCA Slot Usage Requirements

Dear M s

. Thomson :

On June 2 1 , 2012, Spirit Airlines, Inc. (“Spirit”) announced that it would sell four

inside

- perimeter 2100

- hour slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (“DCA”) to the highest bidder, for use beginning September 6, 2012. Bids were filed on
June 28, and Sp irit notified Southwest Airlines (“Southwest”) that it had submitted the highest bid. Southwest completed its purchase of the four slots on June 29, and on July 2 the FAA Slot Administration Office approved the transfer of the slots from Spirit to

Southwe st effective September 6. Southwest plans to use these slots to provide new

low

- fare service and competition between DCA and St. Louis (“STL”), currently a monopoly market with only limited regional jet service.

However, numerous factors make a Septem ber 6 , 2012 start

- up for this new

service particularly difficult and impractical

, including the fact that Southwest cannot market or sell the flights until the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) acts on

Southwest’s currently pending Application for Exemption to “slide” the four 2100

- hour slots to more viable times during the day. 1 Although Southwest has requested expedited action by the DOT, t h at process is likely to take at least three to four weeks due to the

15 da y period allowed for public comment on Southwest’s request. Therefore

, I am seeking the FAA’s assistance in enabling Southwest to delay the start of its new DCA

STL service for approximately three weeks, from September 6 to September 30

. To accomplish this, Southwest seek s a waiver pursuant to 14 CFR § 93.227(j) from the FAA’s 80 percent slot usage requirements as follows:

1 On July 3, Southwest filed an A pplication for Exemption with the DOT to move the 2100 hour times of
the four newly acquired slots to times earlier in the day, consistent with the DOT’s policy toward slot

slides

. For your convenience I have attached a copy of Southwest’s Application to this email.Kathryn B. Thomson

July 5, 2012 Page 2

A Use Waiver from September 6 to September 30 , 2012 for Slot ID ’s 1383, 1535

and 1536 ; and

A Use Waiver from September 6 to October 27, 2012 for Slot ID 1254 2

Section 93.227(j) provides that “[t] he Chief Counsel of the FAA may waive the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section in the event of a highly unusual and unpredictable condition which is beyond th e control of the slot

- holder and which exists for a period of 9 or more days.” 3 As outlined below, Southwest’s slot purchase meets

these criteria and Southwest believes that good cause exists to grant the limited waiver requested

.

Significantly , Spirit unilaterally selected the date of September 6, 2012 for

transfer of the slots to Southwest , less than ten weeks from the date that FAA approved Southwest’s slot purchase. Southwest asked Spirit to extend the trans fer date to provide

Southwest with a more traditional three

- month start

- up period ; S pirit declined Southwest’s request. Clearly

, Spirit’s selected date of September 6 was outside

Southwest’s control and is a highly unusual and unpredictable condition that exists for a period longer than nine days

.

Four 2100 hour shot s are not by themselves operationally viable for a new DCA operator like Southwest. Indeed, today none of these slots are operated in the 2100 hour, as Spirit moved three of the slots to earlier hours under DOT

- approved slides and

h as traded the fourth. Since slot slides are not transferable between carriers, however Southwest was required to file its own, new slide request from the DOT in order to move the slots to viable times. Obviously Southwest is not able to advertise and sell the new

DCA

- STL flights until it receives approval of its proposed flight times , and the DOT is not expected to make a decision until late July at the earliest

.

Without the requested usage waiver, Southwest would be placed in the

disa dvantageous position of having only a few weeks to market and sell seats on this

new route , as well as to make all necessary arrangements for aircraft and facilities

. This would be especially difficult for a carrier like Southwest that currently has no

se rvice at DCA 4 and is still building name recognition at the airport. B ecause DCA slots are rarely available to small carriers like Southwest, the company determined that it

2 Prior to its sale of the slots to Southwest, Spirit traded its fourth 2100 slot (#1242) for a 2200 slot (#1254) until October 27, 2012. Southwest therefore requests a usage waiver for slot #1254 until October 27, 2012 when the trade

termin ates.

3 Recent FAA decisions indicate that in practice the agency applies a standard of “five or more consecutive days” instead of “nine or more days” for slot usage waivers ( see, e.g. , letter of Rebecca

MacPherson

, February 1, 2012

, granting usage waiver to WestJet). This change is immaterial in th e present case, as Southwest’s request meets both of these standards.

4 Although Southwest’s wholly

- owned subsidiary AirTran Airways operates 12 flights per day at DCA,

Southwest has no DC A service in its own name. Southwest will begin its first DCA flights on July 8, when it inaugurates DCA

- AUS service , one of four recently awarded beyond

- perimeter routes.Kathryn B. Thomson

July 5, 2012 Page 3

could not forego this unique opportunity for gaining access to DCA

. However, starting service on September 6 would place undue

– and unnecessary

– burdens on Southwest in light of the truncated marketing and selling period as well as facility and aircraft requirements

. A waiver of the usage requirements from September 6 t o Se ptember 30

would still ensure a prompt inauguration of Southwest’s new service but in a more manageable timeframe under these highly unusual circumstances

.

F or all of the reasons outlined above, g ood cause exists for the FAA to grant Southwest the limited slot usage waiver requested herein. Due to the impending

slot trans fer date, Southwest respectfully requests that the FAA act on this request expeditiously so that the company may plan accordingly. If you need additional information regarding thi s matter, please let me know and I will be happy to provide it.

Sincerely,

___________________ Robert W. Kneisley

c c: Rebecca MacPherson ( rebecca.macpherson@faa.gov ) Brian Meehan ( brian.ctr.meehan@faa.gov )