Spirit Airlines Loses Bid for Slots at Reagan

Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines said it lost a bid to get takeoff and landing slots at Reagan National Airport in Washington that are being given up by American Airlines Group.

"We put in a bid at a price that we thought we could keep our target margin returns in place and we did not win," Spirit Chief Executive Ben Baldanza said on a conference call.

A slot is the right to operate one takeoff or landing.

American Airlines Group, formed when US Airways merged with AMR Corp in December, had agreed to divest slots at key U.S. airports under a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which had challenged the combination.