NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines Inc. plans a massive flight expansion out of New York’s LaGuardia airport, hoping to improve its competitive edge against its two biggest rivals in one of the nation’s most important air-travel markets.
Delta said Friday that the additions make it the biggest airline between the New York area and other cities in the U.S., as it adds routes that target American Airlines and put it in a better position to compete against United Continental. That should help it grab more high-paying business travelers, a critical passenger segment in major cities like New York.
The list of added cities reads like a map of the hubs of competing airlines. Delta is adding Miami and Dallas, both American Airlines hubs. It will also fly to Houston and Denver, which are United hubs, and Charlotte, N.C. — a hub for US Airways. In all, it will add more than 100 flights to 29 new destinations.
By next summer Delta expects to operate 264 daily flights from LaGuardia — the smallest of the New York area’s three main airports. Those flights will go to more than 60 cities, which Delta says is more than any other airline. Currently Delta operates flights to 35 cities out of that airport.
United and Continental’s merger into the world’s largest airline put Delta in second place by traffic. Expanding in a key business market like New York will help it compete against the larger airline.
“It’s about increasing Delta’s overall appeal and utility to the high-yield business traveler,” said Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco.
