Spirit and Frontier Sue U.S. Over New Reagan National Airport Flights

Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have both filed lawsuits against the Department of Transportation over five new flights that were granted at Reagan National Airport in December. 

The extra slots, which came from a provision in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, were highly coveted, given Reagan National’s proximity to Washington, D.C. Reagan National limits flights to within a 1,250-mile radius, but the FAA bill allowed the DOT to award five long-distance flights; those were won by American, Delta, United, Southwest and Alaska Airlines. 

Spirit had made a bid to operate a flight from Reagan National to San Jose, California and Frontier proposed to fly to San Juan. JetBlue also submitted a bid for San Juan. 

Spirit and Frontier, in separate lawsuits, are both alleging that the DOT “misapplied” certain definitions when deciding which airlines can operate the long-distance flights. 

The lawsuits say that under the FAA bill, that two of the slot exemptions for long-distance domestic round-trip flights were reserved for “limited incumbent carriers,” or carriers that were operating at Reagan National on May 16, 2024 and hold or operate fewer than 40 slots. The rest of the slots were reserved for larger carriers. 

Both carriers argued that under the U.S. law, they qualify as “limited incumbents,” while Alaska does not. 

Frontier declined to comment on the lawsuit. Spirit did not respond to a request for comment. 

“DOT’s action — both disqualifying Frontier, and qualifying Alaska — is arbitrary and capricious,” Frontier said in its lawsuit. 

Frontier argued that because Alaska has a codeshare agreement with American, the Seattle-based carrier technically has a combined 522 slots at Reagan National, and is therefore not a “limited incumbent.” The DOT granted Alaska slots to operate a flight between Reagan National and San Diego. 

Alaska said it had "intervened" in Frontier's lawsuit and that its flight out of Reagan National fulfills "Congress’s key objective of connecting airports that currently do not have nonstop service."

"DOT’s decision came after months of thorough consideration and input from aviation stakeholders," Alaska said in a statement to Skift.

The DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.