CJEU rejects American Airlines’ bid to deprive Delta Air Lines of airline slots

16/03/23

The CJEU today rejected American Airlines’ appeal against a Commission Decision establishing that Delta Air Lines was entitled to grandfathering rights in respect of certain take-off and landing slots allocated to Delta as part of commitments offered by American Airlines to the Commission to resolve competition concerns relating to a merger.  American Airlines argued that Delta was not entitled to continued rights in relation to the slots because it had not made appropriate use of them.  Delta Air Lines intervened in the appeal in support of the Commission.  The CJEU accepted the arguments made by Delta and the Commission and found that Delta’s use of the slots was appropriate on a proper construction of the Slots Regulation.

The judgment can be found here.