Federal Aviation Administration Slot Lottery for LaGuardia Airport

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration lottery to fill
19 unused exemption slots at LaGuardia Airport will take place at
1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, in the FAA Auditorium, Third
Floor, 800 Independence Ave., S.W., in Washington.

A "slot" is a right by an airline to conduct a take-off or landing at
an airport. In 1969, for environmental and capacity concerns the
FAA limited the number of slots at LaGuardia Airport in a
regulation called the High Density Rule (HDR). There are a total
of 159 slots at LaGuardia Airport.

In the Aviation Investment and Reform Act of the 21st Century
(AIR-21), Congress authorized an unlimited number of exemptions
from the HDR for flights by air carriers with fewer than 20 slots at
LaGuardia and airlines with aircraft that have fewer than 71
passenger seats and serve small hub and non-hub airports. The
1999 law made it clear that the exemptions did not affect FAA
authority for safety and the movement of air traffic.

While there was no limit on the number of exemptions, it was not
possible for an unlimited number of AIR-21 exemption flights to
actually operate because of limited capacity at LaGuardia. The
lottery will distribute 19 slots that were unused and were returned
by various airlines to the FAA after the lottery was put in place.
The lottery will allocate the unused slots for flights by carriers that
have the AIR-21 exemption.