The Problem With New York’s LaGuardia Airport

new york's laguardia airport is one of the most convenient airports for much of new york city and its surrounding areas however it is vastly limited in terms of the flights that it can host thanks to a perimeter rule from time to time there is some talk about lifting that perimeter rule what exactly is this perimeter rule and how would lifting it impact laguardia airport laguardia airport has had a perimeter rule in effect since the 1950s the original rule allowed airlines to operate flights to and from the airport within 2000 miles however the port authority the airport's manager decided to keep laguardia from getting overly crowded as such in the 1980s the perimeter was reduced to cities within 1500 miles of laguardia the other motive for the perimeter rule was to keep new york john f kennedy international airport jfk and newark liberty international airport ewr as the main hubs for longer domestic and international travel to and from new york at the same time laguardia would handle domestic routes closer to and from new york laguardia would essentially take on more of a commuter profile even today it has maintained this profile to a certain extent but what about other airports how have they handled changing or easing similar perimeter rules one of the most famous perimeter rules governs washington dc's regan national airport or dca that perimeter rule does not allow airlines to serve airports more than a thousand two hundred and fifty miles away however the perimeter rule at dca does have some exceptions up to 20 daily round-trip flights are allowed to operate from dca to airports outside of this perimeter some cities that are served outside of that perimeter are transcontinental flights to the west coast salt lake city las vegas denver austin and puerto rico much like the perimeter rule governing lga the one at dca is designed to funnel more traffic to dulles international airport or iad in the washington area as well as baltimore washington international thurgood marshall airport bwi in 2020 the us government looked at some possibilities for lifting the perimeter rule governing dca while no stakeholders supported a complete lift of the rule many did concede that additional flight exceptions could be made dallas love field or dal in texas is one rare example of a successful phase out of a perimeter rule originally designed to keep most air traffic at dallas fort worth international airport or dfw the right amendment of 1979 restricted love field operations to destinations in texas and four of its neighboring states arkansas louisiana new mexico and oklahoma after undergoing several revisions and a partial repeal in 2006 the right amendment was fully repealed in 2014 this allowed dal to gain additional non-stop and one-stop connecting services to destinations like las vegas washington dc and chicago several more destinations were added afterward including out to seattle and new york southwest was one of the major catalysts of this growth at dal back to laguardia there are two exceptions to the airport perimeter rule the first allows flights daily to denver which was grandfathered in the 1984 tightening of the perimeter rule the second is select dispensation for saturday flights saturdays can be lower demand days for air travel and leisure travelers like to take a friday to sunday or monday travel schedule while business travelers typically do not fly on the weekend to keep the airport still running at capacity airlines can access additional destinations on the weekend these routes mostly cater to leisure travelers who would be fine delaying their travel plans a day for a non-stop flight if the perimeter rule were lifted almost immediately destinations currently served outside the 1500 mile radius would get extra service this includes caribbean destinations flights to and from outdoor and ski destinations in montana and colorado and currently non-served hubs transcontinental flights would be among the more likely candidates for new flights to and from laguardia if the perimeter rule were lifted laguardia is a small airport so while wide bodies are unlikely to serve it larger narrow body jets like an airbus a321 or boeing 737 would be able to be accommodated at the airport besides the usual suspects of san francisco los angeles and seattle additional western destinations like san diego could end up on the route map to and from laguardia in addition airline hubs currently not so from laguardia like salt lake city and phoenix would also be one of the first new additions however laguardia cannot handle international flights as it does not have a customs facility but it can handle flights coming in from an international airport where there is a u.s border pre-clearance facility such as vancouver montreal or calgary the airport already handles flights coming from toronto an expansion of laguardia's perimeter rule could see narrow body long-haul international flights from shannon or dublin as those are the only destinations within reach of a narrow body long-haul jet from laguardia that would be a major stretch however given that laguardia's short runways could constrain the payload acceptable on those flights delta airlines is laguardia's largest carrier as such it would almost immediately benefit from the opening with an existing ground game in place delta would be able to expand to destinations further out from the airport in fact in 2015 delta began a campaign to lift the perimeter rule which would allow it to boost its hub the company explained that new york jfk was already crowded and heavily slot controlled and delta would be able to expand significantly touting that passengers could benefit from additional connecting opportunities out of laguardia that campaign however did not come to fruition laguardia is still a very important airport for delta the carrier values its slots at the airport so much that it abandoned its joint venture plans with westjet over the usdot's mandate to dive their slots at the airport if it wanted to continue with joint venture plans american and jetblue could also benefit from the lifting of the perimeter rule at laguardia the two carriers recently unveiled a close partnership and expanded service which could allow both airlines to grow with flights to new destinations smaller but still significant players in laguardia are low-cost carriers both south west and spirit fly from the new york airport and both airlines would certainly love to get additional slots which would allow them to offer an alternative for new yorkers as neither carrier flies from jfk barring any major new push the perimeter rule will likely remain in place there seems to be little appetite for changing the rules at laguardia now even with the recent major airport redevelopment programme if the perimeter rule at laguardia were lifted it would certainly lead to more flights to destinations farther away from the airport it may even alleviate some congestion at new york jfk the issue with change would be which airlines benefit the most from it and how strong that antagonism would be against a rule change do you think the perimeter rule at laguardia should be lifted why or why not let us know in the comments did you know that we publish over 175 stories every single week on simpleflying.com be sure to check the link in the description for more great stories just like this you

Channel: Long Haul by Simple Flying

Views: 219,826

Rating: 4.9065719 out of 5

Keywords: aviation, flying, flight, boeing, airbus, planes, aircraft, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 777x, a320, a321, airbus a380, a380, airports, american airlines, united airlines, delta airlines, british airways

Id: 5Jixpv_-zCM

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2021