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In August of 2009, US Airways announced it would be selling LaGuardia out to Delta Air Lines in exchange for greater power at Washington-National Airport. Two years later, after selling off some of the slots, it is finally time for Delta to announce its expansion out of LaGuardia.
Delta will be taking over many routes previously operated by US Airways Express, and, in most cases, increasing the size of the aircraft on the route. It will establish a hub at LaGuardia, a rather hard thing to do at the crowded airport.
A connection will be built behind security between Terminal D, the Delta terminal, and the US Airways terminal, Terminal C. Delta will invest in $100 million worth of improvements to upgrade the two terminals. Delta will continue to use the Marine Air Terminal for its Shuttle Flights.
The expansion will take place in two stages, one in March and the other in July. Despite promises to bring in larger aircraft, there are still a lot of routes on the listseeing Embraer 145 and CRJ fifty seat regional jets. Despite the fact most people dislike the flying experience of the fifty seaters, the reality is that the airlines have them, and it will take time to replace them.
Cities for the expansion include: Albany, NY; Bangor, ME; Nashville, TN; Burlington, VT; Buffalo, NY; Columbia, SC; Charlottesville, VA; Cleveland, OH; Charlotte, NC; Dayton, OH; Denver, CO; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Greensboro, NC; Greenville-Spartanburg, SC; Washington-Dulles, DC; Houston-Intercontinental, TX Wilmington, NC; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, MO; Manchester, NH; Miami, FL, Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN; Myrtle Beach, SC; Nassau, Bahamas; Norfolk, VA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, ME; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; Roanoke, VA; Rochester, NY; Ft. Myers, FL; Louisville, KY; St. Louis, MO; Syracuse, NY; Halifax, N.S.; Ottawa, On; Montreal, Q.C…
That’s a rather long list there. A lot of them are routes ceded by US Airways, but there are some new and interesting plays that piqued our interest.
- New York to Denver challenges United on the route
- New York to Miami challenges American, who has a great deal of power in Miami and is also a big player in New York
- Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Pittsburgh are all routes US Airways was once dominant on.
Related articles
- Delta Adding More Flights To And From LaGuardia (newyork.cbslocal.com)
- Delta announces big LaGuardia expansion (seattlepi.com)
- Delta Plans Two New York Hubs 12 Miles Apart (thestreet.com)
- Delta, US Airways Close Deal to Transfer Flying Rights in New York and Washington, D.C. (prnewswire.com)
- JetBlue Wins Landing Rights In Washington, New York (huffingtonpost.com)
- JetBlue wins landing rights in Washington, NY (seattlepi.com)
