Delta Air Lines will start five daily nonstop flights from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to La Guardia Airport in New York on July 11, according to the Charlotte City Council’s weekly manager memo.No Delta flights went from Charlotte to LaGuardia last year. Now, seven daily Delta flights will go to New York, including two to JFK International Airport.This is a significant increase in (Delta’s) local presence and provides greater access to New York for Charlotte’s business traveler,” read the memo.Delta will have 36 flights at Charlotte Douglas after the expanded schedule kicks in.Delta and US Airways, Charlotte Douglas’ dominant carrier, agreed last year to swap most of their takeoff and landing spots at LaGuardia and at Washington Reagan National Airport. US Airways has been building up flights at Washington, a “focus city” for the airline, while Delta adds more flights to LaGuardia.The airlines faced more than a year of regulatory scrutiny because of antitrust concerns over the deal. In the end they had to divest some of their slots at both airports for other carriers to bid on. Both airports are capacity-constrained, meaning only so many takeoff and landing slots are available.The slot swap allowed each company to focus on its core markets as airlines shy away from growth and put the emphasis on their main, and profitable, routes.Charlotte Douglas is US Airways’ busiest hub, with more than 600 daily flights and about 7,000 employees based in the Charlotte area.
