Delta, U.S. Airways reach revised slot-swap deal

A Delta plane sits on a runway prior to takeoff at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York December 25, 2009.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and US Airways Group (LCC.N) said on Monday they had reached a new agreement to swap takeoff and landing rights at New York and Washington, D.C., airports, revising a 2009 proposed deal that was never completed.

Under terms of the new pact, Delta would acquire 132 slot pairs at New York's LaGuardia Airport from US Airways; and US Airways would acquire 42 slot pairs at Washington's Reagan National from Delta as well as rights to operate additional daily service to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015. Delta would pay US Airways $66.5 million in cash, the companies said on Monday.

A slot pair is the authority to operate one takeoff and one landing.

The revised transaction, which is subject to government and regulatory approval, could result in the divestiture of up to 16 slot pairs at LaGuardia and eight slot pairs at Reagan National to airlines with limited or no service at those airports should regulators require it, the carriers said.

For Delta, the swap would allow it to continue to expand in New York, a key business market.

US Airways told an investor conference last week that the swap with Delta would give it access to profit-enhancing assets in Washington, while allowing it to let go of LaGuardia assets that are not profitable.

Delta and US Airways said they will dismiss their appeal of a Department of Transportation order involving the 2009 proposed swap that is currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. That earlier transaction included terms that were unacceptable to the carriers.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)