Established airlines hold the rights to the majority of takeoff and landing slots. At O Hare, American and United Airlines hold 84 percent of the slots while all new entrants combined hold 3 percent. At Kennedy and Laguardia, new entrants hold 1 percent and 6 percent of the slots respectively. At Reagan Washington National, new entrants hold 3 percent of the slots. Earlier last month, the Federal Aviation Administration granted JetBlue, a New York-based carrier, its request for 75 daily slots at New York Kennedy Airport.
Airlines can offer frequent flights through their hubs to an array of destinations.
Unfortunately, this arrangement has also led to what many call the Fortress Hub. As a result, the hubbing carrier often controls 50 percent or more of the local passenger traffic. In that period, however, they have only managed to maintain service in 500 of those markets. The high rate of failure among new airlines can partly be attributed to the aggressive response by incumbent carriers. New entrant carriers allege that the incumbent carriers flood the market with below-cost tickets.