NEW YORK (VINnews) — The Federal Aviation Administration has approved JetBlue Airways’ takeover of Spirit Airlines’ takeoff and landing slots at LaGuardia Airport, clearing the way for the carrier to add flights at one of the nation’s most constrained airports.

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The transfer covers 22 slots and was confirmed in a notice released Tuesday. Approval is conditional: JetBlue may not lease or trade any of the slots to another carrier until after April 2028. The agency said the move is in the public interest and does not change the total number of operations at the airport.

Spirit stopped flying on May 2 and entered liquidation. JetBlue won the slots in a court-supervised auction with a bid of $58.5 million, ahead of a competing offer from Frontier Airlines. A bankruptcy court cleared the sale in July, subject to regulatory approval.

JetBlue has said the slots could support as many as 12 extra daily round trips from LaGuardia in 2027. The package includes 12 daily departure rights and 10 arrival rights.

LaGuardia limits takeoffs and landings through a slot system because demand exceeds runway capacity. Rights that go unused can be withdrawn, which is why regulators moved to return Spirit’s authorizations to active service after the airline shut down.

The final grant follows a tentative decision the FAA issued in late August and a public comment period. Under the conditions attached to the approval, the slots remain subject to the agency’s existing rules, including the ability to pull them for nonuse.

JetBlue already operated at LaGuardia before the auction. Adding Spirit’s rights would roughly expand its holdings there, though the airline would still hold a small share of the airport’s slots compared with the largest carriers.

Travelers are not expected to see the new flights immediately. JetBlue has indicated the added service would begin in 2027, after it assigns aircraft and crews and opens ticket sales.