Southwest Airlines plans to lease 36 slots from Continental Airlines at Newark Airport, which would enable the low-cost carrier to fly up to 18 daily roundtrips from Newark.
The lease deal is contingent upon closing of the Continental-United merger by Nov. 30 and other government approvals. The Continental-United merger is under review by the Obama administration.
Southwest aims to begin some Newark flights in March 2011 and have a full schedule in place by June 2011. The slots are spread throughout the day and would allow Southwest to integrate Newark service into its national route network, the airline said.
The airline has not determined what cities it will serve from Newark.
“We've seen tremendous demand for Southwest Airlines in the New York City/Newark area in the past year,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning.
