Popular departure points from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York include Boston, Chicago, and Florida. Not so much in Salt Lake City.
But as originally seen in Cirium timetables and then confirmed by a carrier official, Delta Air Lines is about to begin service from LGA to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) on July 8.
Through September 2 during the busiest summer months, the new service will run on a 109-seat Airbus A220-100. Both airports are home to a Delta hub, which allows it to provide connections to destinations on the West Coast and beyond via Salt Lake City.
This route is particularly intriguing since, starting from LaGuardia, it will grow to be the longest.
The nonstop trip from LaGuardia to Salt Lake City will be 1,982 miles long, only 21 miles longer than the previous record-holder, American Airlines' journey from LaGuardia to Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA) in Aruba.
Despite the potential for eye-catching headlines, there is a significant catch: Delta only intends to run a total of 10 flights in each way, all of which will be on Saturdays.
Although Delta would undoubtedly prefer far more regular service, it has no other option. It can only legally fly on Saturdays if it wants to travel from LaGuardia to Salt Lake City.
This is due to the airport's "perimeter rule," which prohibits airlines from flying to airports more than 1,500 miles away, with the exception of flights to Denver and any route operated on Saturdays.
Thus, Delta is making use of this exemption to the perimeter restriction as it plans its route to Salt Lake City.
(LaGuardia is likewise slot-constrained, thus airlines must obtain special clearance to operate flights there in terms of takeoff and landing, but slots are not required for flights on Saturdays.)
In general, Saturday-only service isn't very profitable, especially on domestic routes. As Saturdays are often the least busy day of the week for flying and there is almost no demand for business travel, airlines must fight for a portion of the leisure market that travels over the weekend, which is typically a less lucrative market for them. (For what it's worth, the new Delta route's introductory rates begin at $209)
Although the airline also has a hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in Queens, Delta probably thinks that some passengers would much rather fly from the airport that is closest to Manhattan.
It's interesting to note that Delta has attempted to connect LaGuardia with Salt Lake City before. According to the Cirium timetables, the airline most recently operated the route on Saturdays between December 2005 and September 2010. The fact that the flight hasn't been back in 12 years suggests that the airline wasn't satisfied with its performance.
Other airlines have attempted to use the Saturday exemption to the perimeter rule over the years, but none have been successful enough to operate consistently.
A 2,469-mile transcontinental trip from LaGuardia to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was introduced by Spirit Airlines during the pandemic, but that service has since been discontinued. Flights from LGA to LAX were also attempted by Delta in 2006, however, the flights were discontinued after only six months, according to Cirium schedules.
The title of longest route flown from LaGuardia during the past 20 years belongs to the now-defunct ATA Airlines. From January 2004 to September 2004, the low-cost airline flew on Saturdays a 2,579-mile route between LGA and San Francisco; however, both that service and the company are no longer in existence.
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