Have you ever noticed when flying out of New York – LaGuardia that most flights are offered to destinations east of the Mississippi River of the United States?
Maybe you were flying to LaGuardia Airport late at night and the pilot announced that the flight had to divert to New York – JFK Airport or Newark Airport.
LaGuardia is notorious for being a very complicated airport to fly in and out of.
The airport has flight restrictions to help with noise pollution in the airport’s local neighborhoods. These flight restrictions heavily limit many popular cross-country routes and force flights running late to divert to be in compliance with LaGuardia’s aircraft curfew.
So what are the longest nonstop routes that are legal at LaGuardia?
In this article, we’ll reveal the longest nonstop flights currently operating to and from LaGuardia and go into detail about LaGuardia Airport’s perimeter rule, curfew rule, and it’s slot system.
1. New York (LGA) to Los Angeles
Direct Miles: 2467 miles
Airlines: Delta Air Lines
Aircraft: Airbus A220
Days of Operation: Saturday’s Only
The longest nonstop flight to operate out of LaGuardia is Delta’s Airbus A220 route to Los Angeles, California.
Interestingly enough, this route uses an Airbus A220 instead of an Airbus A320 or Airbus A321. The Airbus A220 was designed to serve shorter routes but it does in fact have the range to fly across the United States, although it carries fewer passengers than an Airbus A320.
One thing to keep in mind is that this route is probably a little bit overserved because of the lack of business travel on Saturday. This might be the reason Delta Air Lines chooses to use an Airbus A220. The Airbus A220 is newer and much smaller which means less operation costs per flight.
Delta probably makes more revenue per flight at area airports like Newark and JFK because of all the business seats purchased per flight on the larger domestic aircraft that are flying more times per week.
2. New York (LGA) to Las Vegas
Direct Miles: 2239 miles
Airlines: Delta Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A220
Days of Operation: Saturday’s Only
The second longest flight out of LaGuardia Airport is a 2239-mile trip on board Delta Air Lines to Las Vegas. This flight has many of the same sentiments as the Los Angeles flight.
Las Vegas is a popular tourist destination that might be better off served by Delta using an aircraft with a higher passenger capacity than the Airbus A220.
However, this route differs from the Los Angeles route because Las Vegas is dominantly a tourist destination.
With area airports generating the lion’s share of revenue on the New York to Las Vegas route as well as the strict rules for flying into LaGuardia, Delta is probably okay with keeping this route at one flight per day on Saturdays.
Also, Saturday is a weird day of the week for someone to cut a vacation trip short. Most people probably opt to leave on Sunday. This means the demand for a Saturday flight to LaGuardia isn’t as high.
3. New York (LGA) to Salt Lake City
Direct Miles: 1979 miles
Airlines: Delta Airlines, United Express
Aircraft: Airbus A220, Embraer 175LR
Days of Operation: Saturday’s Only
New York – LGA to Salt Lake City unlike Los Angeles and Las Vegas is served by two airlines; Delta Air Lines and United Express.
Salt Lake City is a hub for Delta Air Lines. The New York – Salt Lake City route must be a revenue generator Delta flights to other New York area airports which allows the airline to dedicate the resources for a once-a-day flight to LaGuardia to meet demand.
This route also has to be one of the longer United Express flights offered. This route is served by Skywest Airlines which historically operates on the West Coast of the United States.
The aircraft choices are also interesting because Delta and United Express are using regional-type aircraft for this longer route. Delta Air Lines has access to Airbus aircraft capable of accommodating more passengers to meet demand but United Express is exclusively limited to using regional aircraft.
4. New York (LGA) to Denver
Direct Miles: 1637 miles
Airlines: United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue Airways
Aircraft: Airbus A320, Airbus A319, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 Max
Days of Operation: Every Day
The New York – LaGuardia to Denver route is the longest route that is allowed for daily operation according to the airport’s very strict rule set. That explains why so many airlines have competition for this particular route.
Almost all of LaGuardia’s major American carriers except for Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have a market share in this route. These airlines are operating shorter to medium-range aircraft like the Airbus A320 class and the Boeing 737 NG class for this route.
By far, this is LaGuardia’s most highly sought-after long-range route. Between June 2022 and May 2023, over 700,000 passengers have flown to Denver from LaGuardia.
5. New York (LGA) to Houston
Direct Miles: 1417 miles
Airlines: Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, United Express, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines.
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 Max, Airbus A220, Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Embraer 175LR
Days of Operation: Every Day
The fifth longest nonstop route out of LaGuardia Airport is to the Houston Area. This is the only route besides the exempted Denver route that falls within the boundaries set by LaGuardia’s strict flight restrictions.
This particular route is served by almost all the major American air carriers based at LaGuardia. It features a mix of smaller regional aircraft, short to medium-haul aircraft, and the first use of the Airbus A321 on a longer domestic flight from the airport.
Southwest Airlines is the only air carrier on this list to utilize William P. Hobby Airport instead of Houston International Airport. That is right up the alley for Southwest Airlines since they like to use smaller, less trafficked airports for their flights.
LaGuardia Airports Unique Flight Restrictions
Most passengers flying to and from LaGuardia Airport are oblivious to the challenges of operating a flight to LaGuardia. In addition to landing at short runways and navigating congested New York City Airspace, the airport has a series of restrictions that air carriers operating flights need to be aware of and abide by.
The Perimeter Rule
During the 1950s, an effort was made to reduce the noise that commercial aircraft operating at LaGuardia Airport would bring to Northeast Queens County neighborhoods. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (owners of LaGuardia Airport) implemented a rule that restricted flights to destinations 2000 miles away from operating at LaGuardia Airport.
This meant air carriers were not able to serve the West Coast of the United States. Larger aircraft capable of transcontinental or intercontinental travel like the Boeing 707 would not be flying into the airport. These larger airplane types generally needed more engines thus generating more noise on takeoffs.
In 1984, the Port Authority limited the perimeter rule milage even more to 1500 miles. That means the furthest west an airline can operate in and out of LaGuardia can offer flights to is Dallas or Houston.
However, there has been some loosening of the rules and exemptions over time.
The Perimeter Rule is only in effect between Sunday through Friday which are days most likely dedicated to business travel. Saturdays are exempted which is why some airlines at the airport schedule their longest flights only once a week, on Saturdays.
The only route that airlines are able to fly during the week that’s beyond the limits of the perimeter rule is the flight to Denver.
The Curfew Rule
In another effort to reduce noise pollution over Queen neighborhoods located around LaGuardia Airport, the Port Authority also implemented a curfew for inbound flights into LaGuardia.
At 12:01 AM, the Port Authority has the option to close the airport to incoming flights. The airport will then open again at 6:01 am in the morning.
This means that nighttime flights that are running late to LaGuardia run the risk of being diverted to other area airports like JFK or Newark.
LaGuardia’s Slot System
LaGuardia Airport is one of the few airports in the United States that uses a slot system. A slot system is a designated time an air carrier can use a runaway for a takeoff or a landing.
The idea behind slots is to avoid congestion at airports deemed by the government as “capacity-constrained”.
For example, JetBlue Airways can own 100 slots per day at LaGuardia. That means that JetBlue can land or take off in any combination 100 times per day. The 101st JetBlue aircraft movement would be illegal because they haven’t purchased a slot for that operation.
Airlines are able to trade or lease slots between each other. For example, JetBlue can trade 50 slots at LaGuardia to Delta who in return gives JetBlue 50 slots at Washington National Airport.
The Slot System is a great way to minimize the amount of random aircraft movements that may contribute to flight delays. This is especially important at LaGuardia Airport because of its smaller size.
Sources
https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?20=E
https://www.flightaware.com/live/airport/KLGA
https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-new-york-city-lga
