Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Delta Airlines adding hourly Chicago <-> New York service
Delta airlines just announced the introduction of 22 new daily flights between Chicago and New York. The new flights will be operated as Delta Shuttle flights, and will start June 10th.The new hourly service out of O'Hare replaces current Delta flights between Chicago Midway and LaGuardia.
Delta obviously means business - because they are also going to offer free coffee and newspapers at the gate, which will be located as close as possible to the terminal 2 security checkpoint.
More flights on this route means cheaper fares for everyone, because the other airlines will clearly be paying attention to this increased capacity. Delta kiosks will be available for same-day ticket purchases.
The route will be operated by an Embraer 175 jet - with 12 seats in first class, and 64 seats in coach. Because this is a narrow body jet, there are no middle seats. The flights will offer Delta's "enhanced shuttle service" which means meals in first class, and free wine and beer in all cabins.
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sam W Mar 21st 2010 1:32AM
very happy to hear about this new route & level of service. Maybe airlines will start to compete on service again... ok thats too much to hope.
ndmisha Mar 21st 2010 1:30PM
Am I alone in thinking this sucks? By using smaller planes to have more flights, it creates a more congested airspace -- hardly what ORD or NYC needs. There is a tradeoff between convenience (super-frequent flights) and logistical feasbility (having enough takeoff/landing slots, gates, ontime arrivals/departures). Would it be so hard to have, say, 100 minutes between flights and use a larger plane? That would mean a dozen fewer planes competing for airspace and, perhaps, more ontime arrivals.
Katie Mar 24th 2010 12:15AM
Someday the airlines will figure out that they wouldn't need so many flights between the overcrowded airspace of large cities - if they offered a few non stop or direct flights between the medium size cities. Instead they extort passengers on flights from feeder cities to hubs, and can't understand that more and more of those "feeder" passengers are driving (or taking a bus/limo) to the larger airport from where they then fly a discount airline.
cdub Mar 24th 2010 12:36AM
yay! now just get a route from dallas to other major cities :)
Kent Mar 24th 2010 12:45AM
Here's the problem. Delta has a major presence in New York. On the other hand, O'Hare has been a spoke for Delta since it discontinued a lot of non-stop service in the late 80s and early 90s and shifted that flying to the Cincinatti hub. Delta built a 10-gate concourse (L), but wound up leasing half of the gates to American.
On the other hand, American has a major presence in both New York and Chicago. New York is a major gateway to Europe, has a number of flights to the Caribbean, and flies to a number of domestic destinations. O'Hare is American's second largest hub after DFW. It has a lot of corporate customers in both cities.
United's largest hub is at O'Hare. While it's presence in New York has declined over the years, it's recognized as having the greatest number of connecting flights to cities in the Midwest and Great Plains from O'Hare. It also has a lot of corporate customers in Chicago, the Midwest, and nationally.
And just to muddy the picture even further, Southwest has flown for some time from Midway to Islip and has started service to LaGuardia. I'm not sure how much of a following has in New York (as opposed to Long Island), but it has a loyal following in Chicago, as well as connecting cities.
I think Delta has a tough situation. There are a lot of passengers who have to fly American or United because of corporate contracts. The only reason that Delta has dominated O'Hare-Atlanta for years, despite being the non-hub carrier at O'Hare, is that it can move people from Chicago to far more points in the Southeast than United and American can.