Delta Shuttle

Delta Shuttle is the brand name for Delta Air Lines' air shuttle service between LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Logan International Airport in Boston, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport serving Washington, D.C., and Midway Airport in Chicago. It is a direct competitor with the US Airways Shuttle.

At LaGuardia, the Shuttle operates out of the Marine Air Terminal, separate from other Delta Air Lines operations and the rest of the airport, even accessed from the Grand Central Parkway from a different exit than the other terminals. Delta markets the Shuttle as being the closest terminal to Manhattan.

In 2010, the Delta Shuttle will move from the Marine Air Terminal to LaGuardia Terminal C under an agreement with US Airways.

History

Pan Am started the shuttle in 1987. However, Pan Am had a hard time competing against the more established Eastern Shuttle and the service became a financial drain on the already ailing company. In September 1991, Pan Am sold the shuttle to Delta a few months before the rest of its assets were sold. Delta acquired the shuttle and the several Boeing 727s being used to provide the service. In 2000, Delta began replacing its fleet of Boeing 727s with 737-800s.

For a short period beginning in late 2003, after all Boeing 727s had been eliminated from the Delta fleet and replaced with the 737-800s, Delta shifted service of its shuttle routes on to 737-300s. This was a temporary move as the 737-300s were also being eliminated from the fleet, and Delta Shuttle routes were later served by McDonnell Douglas MD-88s.

The Delta Shuttle was the last of the shuttle operations to guarantee a seat to passengers. If a plane was oversold, a second plane would be rolled out to form an "extra section" to fly the overflow on time. This practice ended in 2005. ^[1] In recent press reports it has been mentioned the Delta Shuttle will be rolled into the standard Delta mainline operating fleet.

In December 2008, Delta announced that the MD-88s on its New York-Washington route would be phased out in favor of the Embraer 175 jets, operated by Delta Connection partners. Operations by Delta's "in house" subsidiary, Compass or continued outsourcing to Republic Airways Holdings as is presently done upon these routes will assure New York to Washington routes remain.^[2]

On August 12, 2009, Delta Air Lines and US Airways announced a landing slot and terminal swap. Under the swap plan, which is subject to government approval, US Airways will give Delta 125 operating slot pairs at LaGuardia. As part of the changes, Delta Shuttle operations will move from the Marine Air Terminal to Terminal C (the present US Airways terminal), and a connection will be built between Terminal C and Terminal D (the current mainline Delta terminal). US Airways Shuttle flights will move to the Marine Air Terminal, and mainline US Airways flights will move to Terminal D.^[3][4]

City pairs

• Operated by Delta Air Lines
  • New York-LaGuardia - Boston
• Operated by Shuttle America
  • New York-LaGuardia - Washington-Reagan

Fleet

• Delta Air Lines
  • McDonnell Douglas MD-88
• Shuttle America
  • Embraer 175

Services and amenities

The shuttle offers a unique level of service designed primarily for business travellers between the northeast's business centers in Washington, DC, New York, and Boston. Services and amenities found on Delta Shuttle flights not usually found on Delta "mainline" flights include:

• Increased legroom
• Open-seating policy (to decrease delays associated with standard boarding procedures)
• Meals in the morning hours
• Enhanced snack service on all weekday flights (on "mainline" flights, Delta's enhanced snack service is reserved for flights longer than 3.5 hours)
• Complimentary wine and premium beer

In addition, in gate waiting areas at Shuttle airports, passengers are offered complimentary newspapers and magazines, coffee, and juice.

References