Southwest Confirms LaGuardia Flights Starting June

After months of speculation, Southwest Airlines announced it will start flight service from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Chicago Midway and Baltimore-Washington International Airports on June 28. In good news for travelers (and bad news for other carriers), the NY Times reports, "For New York travelers, Southwest’s prices could affect fares in and out of La Guardia in the way that JetBlue Airways has affected fares in and out of Kennedy Airport. One-way flights to Chicago Midway will start as low as $89, and flights to Baltimore-Washington will start at $49 one way." Southwest will have five daily departures to Chicago and three to Baltimore; schedule planning's lead planner Bill Owen blogged, "We've done some interesting network design work--both up-front and behind the scenes--to make sure we take care of y'all, given the uniqueness of operating at LaGuardia, in true Southwest Airlines style. As always, Southwest is putting our Customers first. Gee, putting Customers first--talk about something new for air travellers in the Big Apple......... *grin*"