MRW

DL has announced a swap with US to get more slots/routes at LGA in exchange for slots at DCA. Marine Air Terminal will also be swapped for the main US Building which will be connected to the current DL Building.

LGA: approx 148 daily departures to 272; 16 gates to 27
DCA: approx 89 daily departures to 55; no changes to gates

http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=751

cheesewiz

This makes sense. It will create critical mass for each carrier at each airport.

thepointsguy

Good news for NYC DL flyers. While LGA is generally a mess, its just so much faster to get to than JFK or EWR (esp. if you work/live on the east side of Manhattan.) Curious to see what routes they will add. Hopefully more regional routes, currently only served by JFK (like PIT and BTV)

mersk862

Looks like the DCA gate issue problem of trying to fit NW's operations into the DL gates has been solved by this as well.

Winkdaddy

Nice!!!! I cannot wait to see what routes they add! Looks like they will clean up the medallion lines which will be nice as well. I am crossing my fingers that this will also help alleviate the disaster that is gate 5A in the Delta terminal with all the regional jets jammed together, but who knows...

sbm12

The only bad news I can see is the loss of the MAT. That really was a gem in DL's operations. Even if they dedicate part of the US terminal (like US did for a while, dunno if they still do) for Shuttle operations it just won't be the same.

Then again, with cutting slots at DCA it may be less of an issue as they may not keep the same Shuttle operations in place.

craz

sorry but with the consolidation going on CO & FL , and now DL & US , all I see is less competition and thusly watch out as fares are bound to rise and probably by alot

whenever any carrier gets a large chunk of any airports flights its rare to find that fares didnt go up

Winkdaddy

I dont know all the overlapping routes at LGA, but isnt it still pretty fragmented with American, United ,Airtran, CO, Frontier, Delta, etc?

AirlineDeregulation

Do the 55 daily departures from DCA include NW flights, or do they not include NW flights?

El Boocho

Sounds like DCA upgrades just got a lot harder. This is a significant cut for the Washington based Delta flyer. I'm not sure if this means I should go for DM and be higher on the upgrade list, or if I am better off with PM and also Gold or Plat on US. I really dislike US Airways. The fact that they will be the 800lb gorilla at DCA chafes me.

Alpha Golf

Dang, I'll miss the MAT. Unless I switch to the US Shuttle. Yeah, there's the ticket. As a DCA flyer, reinforces my plan to switch flying over to *A to maintian gold there.

How about a corresponding press release: "Delta Slashes Washington Commitment with Plan for Fewer Flights, Higher Fares"?

mersk862

Here's some numbers on slots/destinations/etc:

US Airways currently serves 27 destinations year-round out of LGA, with 8 additional seasonal destinations (3 summer/5 winter).

Service to current US hubs/Shuttle add up to 64 right now (16 BOS, 16 DCA, 11 CLT, 12 PHL, 9 CLT) - US Airways still has 8 slots open to them per the agreement.

Current US Airways Express operations (to non-hub cities) add up to 128 daily right now - 22 year-round destinations, 5 seasonal (3 summer, 2 winter). Delta overlaps on 4 of these year-round routes - to CMH, CHS, IND and RDU. CMH, IND and RDU will remain as direct competitive markets (AA serves CMH and RDU out of LGA; AirTran is starting LGA-IND); CHS is an indirect competitive market (CO to EWR). DL is taking 125 of these 128 slots - 3 will not go. Thus, US still has about 11 slots to play with in LGA as they please.

Of the destinations US serves out of LGA, the most likely to get cut is Hyannis (a seasonal market) - it might be tough to get a CRJ in and out of Hyannis' runway (HYA is currently 2 slots).

If this goes through (and assume HYA gets cut), DL will serve the following cities out of LGA:
BOS, DCA, MDW, ATL, CVG, MCO, TPA, PBI, BDA, DTW, FLL, RSW, MEM, MSP, NAS, MSY, PBI, CAE, CHS, AVL, BHM, CHS, GRR, GSP, IND, JAX, MCI, LEX, MSY, OMA, RDU, SAV, TYS, MSN, BWI, BUF, GSO, SDF, ORF, PWM, ROC, ILM, DAY, RIC, ILM, CHO, ITH, MHT, ALB, BTV, ROA, ROC, PVD, SYR. Additional seasonal destinations of ACK, MVY, MYR, TVC and SRQ.

DTWflyer

I think this announcement foreshadows many things and helps DL solve a few short-term issues.

1) Gets a nicer terminal in LGA, enables them to consolidate ops and get out of the MAT. The current DL terminal is a overcrowded dump.
2) Takes some of the domestic pressure off of DL's JFK ops, enabling them to put more through LGA, which may help them with the JFK terminal issue (and forgo significant capital expenses in the short term)
3) By reducing DCA, enables them to fit DL & NW in their current facilities
4) Helps them compete more against CO in the NYC market, and religates AA even further behind now in NYC
5) Probably spells the official end of the CVG hub, down to focus city. DL needs to get the planes from somewhere for the increased LGA flying.

The only part missing from the DL-US LGA rumor that had been out for several weeks was about DL potentially acquiring the US E-190's to replace the DC-9-30's.

AirlineDeregulation

I agree. I'm in the same boat. I'm not a fan of US Airways, especially the chaos that is their RJ operation here at DCA. But tough upgrades out of DCA are going to get tougher and options are going to decrease on Delta.

It will be interesting to see if they keep hourly service to ATL because if they do, more than half of their slots will be taken up with Shuttle flights to LGA and ATL flights. It will make it more difficult to connect.

I'm afraid it's time to start flying US Airways more.

mersk862

And a map of the new network from LGA:



BDA is also a route, just not in the map...