April 7, 2009

Southwest to start LaGuardia to Midway, BWI in June

Southwest Airlines will start its LaGuardia Airport service June 28 with service to Chicago Midway and Baltimore/Washington, the Dallas-based company announced this morning.

Southwest will fly five daily nonstop flights between Chicago Midway and LaGuardia, and three daily nonstop between Baltimore/Washington and LaGuardia, the company said.

Fares will start at $89 one-way for flights to Chicago Midway (MDW) flights and $49 one-way for Baltimore/Washington (BWI) flights if you purchase by April 20 for travel through Aug. 13. (Fees are extra, and Fridays and Sundays are blacked out, plus July 2-6.)

In November, Southwest bought assets from the bankrupt ATA Airlines, including landing spots at LaGuardia. Currently, Southwest’s closest airport is the Long Island MacArthur Airport.

The Southwest flights to New York will offer connections to more than 45 destinations including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver. The 38-year-old low-cost carrier currently serves 65 cities and will add Boston Logan in the fall.

Because I know you’ll ask—how were we able to schedule eight departures a day? Simple. Southwest received 14 daily slots for our operations at LGA (each takeoff and each landing requires a slot), which gives us authority for seven departures daily. As a bonus—we’re able to add an eighth flight by scheduling our first LGA-MDW departure in before slot controls start (prior to 7:00 a.m.) and putting the last MDW-LGA arrival after slot controls stop (after 9:59 p.m.). So even though we’re new to this whole slot-controlled thing—we’re already working to maximize our presence at LaGuardia. Who knows what the future may bring!

April 7, 2009 7:18 AM in Arrivology

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