Originally Posted by
ceflyer
LGA-ORD is nearly all mainline, usually A220s. You can put the A220s on LAX-ORD too. Otherwise no reason why you can’t fly it with 738s or A320s. Am I missing something? I don’t see how Delta’s the credible LAX leader without flights to the country’s 3rd largest city and a huge business hub.
Agreed on the A220. It varies but you'll regularly see it do LGA, BOS, MSP, SEA, and SLC out of ORD. It's an incredibly versatile aircraft and they route aircraft and crews through ORD...gives them a lot of options.
Originally Posted by
ClipperDelta
LGA-ORD didn’t start out with mainline, it was all E170/175s for quite a few years. The addition of mainline only happened in the last few years, after DL established itself in the market. Delta usually enters competitive domestic markets with relatively small equipment (hence the DCI aircraft), and then upgauge later if warranted. Something like LAX-ORD would also likely need frequency as well, so dumping a bunch of mainline aircraft into a competitive market with high frequency from the get-go would be a sure-fire way to red ink….
The other thing that supported upgauging of LGA-ORD was DL moving out of the MAT at LGA. Prior to that, DL didn't sell connections to/from ORD over LGA ... doing so required taking a landside shuttle bus ... I did it a few times during IRROPS but not a regular thing. It went from E170/E175 to 717 to a mix of 220 and RJs currently. Occasionally a 319/320 or 738 will be subbed in for operational reasons.