Delta plans to add back more than 100 flights to NYC airports, as the airline restores pre-covid flight levels at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia’s (LGA) airport.
During the pandemic, the FAA implemented a slot waiver, where airlines wouldn’t lose their take-off/landing slots at the nation’s busiest airports, however is set to expire, and Delta wouldn’t dare lose these slots to competitors such as JetBlue, American, or United.
Per Delta,
By November, Delta will add more than 100 total daily departures from John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport compared to the airline’s summer 2021 schedule – translating to approximately 8,000 additional seats each day to the people and places New Yorkers love most.
Not only will Delta restore nonstop service to all of New York’s 40 most popular domestic markets by next month, but multiple key business markets will also see meaningful boosts in flight options, including Boston (BOS), Washington, D.C. (DCA), Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and Charlotte (CLT). This follows Delta’s already expanded service to NYC’s biggest corporate markets earlier this fall, like Chicago (ORD), Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) and Houston (IAH) – part of Delta’s thoughtful approach to adding capacity in line with the return of demand.
Delta also recently launched new LGA service to Toronto (YYZ) and will launch a new flight to Worcester, Massachusetts (ORH) starting Nov. 1.
Delta will offer the most flights and seats of any carrier at JFK and LGA with 400 total daily departures to 92 domestic and international destinations. And every Delta flight at JFK, LGA and EWR will now offer a First Class experience, due to the removal of smaller, 50-seat aircraft from all NYC markets.
Not sure this is a good financial decision at this time. Covid is a virus, and viruses move (started west, moved south – Florida now has the lowest per capita rate, now headed up). It’s going to hit the Northeast hard this winter. Can’t imagine that those flights are going to be full.
No one cares about the virus anymore. Those that don’t want to vacated assume the risk. Covid is old news.
Brad, I wish that was true, that COVID was old news. Unfortunately, it’s the vaccinated that are currently affected by the mutated strains, and those strains are predicted to move northeast for the winter. My comment was about the financial decision of Delta to reopen those routes in a climate that probably isn’t going to have the passengers to fill them. Then again, maybe they’ll empty the middle seats again and we can all have aisles or windows. I suppose they needed to weigh the potential loss of their slots against any revenue loss.
Again, no cares anymore and no one even wears a mask. Everyone is tired of it and has moved on with their lives. Delta knows this too. No I’m not a Trumper.