Delta Shuttle
Encyclopedia
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
' air shuttle
Air shuttle
An air shuttle is a scheduled airline service that operates a frequent, regular service on short routes with a simplified fare and class structure. Although no exact specifications exist, frequency is normally once per hour or more often and travel time is typically an hour or less, although longer...
service between LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...
serving Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD). It is a direct competitor with the US Airways Shuttle.
At LaGuardia, the Shuttle operates out of the Marine Air Terminal
Marine Air Terminal
-External links:*...
, separate from other Delta Air Lines operations and the rest of the airport, even accessed from the Grand Central Parkway
Grand Central Parkway
The Grand Central Parkway is a parkway that stretches from the RFK-Triborough Bridge in New York City to Nassau County on Long Island. At the Queens-Nassau border, it becomes the Northern State Parkway, which runs across the northern part of Long Island through Nassau County and into Suffolk...
from a different exit than the other terminals. Delta markets the Shuttle as being the closest terminal to Manhattan.
History
Pan AmPan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
started the shuttle in 1987. However, Pan Am had a hard time competing against the more established Eastern Shuttle
Eastern Shuttle
Eastern Shuttle can refer to:*Eastern Shuttle, a division of Eastern Air Lines*Eastern Shuttle , a bus operator...
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 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
s being used to provide the service. In 2000, Delta began replacing its fleet of Boeing 727s with 737-800
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
s.
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 737-300
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
s. 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. In recent press reports it has been mentioned the Delta Shuttle will be rolled into the standard Delta mainline
Mainline (flight)
A mainline flight is a flight operated by an airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional alliances, regional code-shares or regional subsidiaries...
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
Embraer E-Jets
The Embraer E-Jets are a series of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range, jet airliners produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and corporate aircraft. Announced at the Paris Air Show in 1999, and entering production in 2002, the aircraft series...
jets, operated by Delta Connection
Delta Connection
Delta Connection is the name under which a number of individually owned regional airlines and one wholly owned regional carrier operate short and medium haul routes in association with Delta Air Lines Inc...
partners. Operations by Delta's now divested subsidiary, Trans States Holdings
Trans States Holdings
Trans States Holdings is a privately owned holding company of three certified regional airlines: Compass Airlines, GoJet Airlines and Trans States Airlines. The holding company is headquartered in Brigeton, Missouri near the Lambert-St...
- Compass
Compass Airlines (North America)
Compass Airlines is a regional airline headquartered at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Fort Snelling, Hennepin County, Minnesota; prior to December 16, 2009, it was headquartered in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, east of the Chantilly CDP...
or continued outsourcing to Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an aviation holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which owns six airlines operating in the United States: Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Republic Airlines, Shuttle America, and the former Lynx Aviation....
as is presently done upon these routes will assure New York to Washington routes remain.
On August 12, 2009, Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
and US Airways
US Airways
US Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....
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.
On March 18, 2010, Delta Air Lines announced it would be expanding its Delta Shuttle service to serve Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from New York-LaGuardia. Beginning June 10, 2010, Delta will offer 11 daily flights between the two airports, the new service will be outsourced and operated by the Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an aviation holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which owns six airlines operating in the United States: Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Republic Airlines, Shuttle America, and the former Lynx Aviation....
carrier Shuttle America
Shuttle America
Shuttle America Corporation is a regional airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It feeds United Airlines flights at Chicago, Denver, and Washington as United Express, and feeds Delta Air Lines flights at Atlanta and New York as Delta Connection and Delta Shuttle.-History:Shuttle America...
and operate with Embraer 175 jets; at the same time Delta will be discontinuing its New York-LaGuardia-Chicago Midway service on June 9, 2010. http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=971
On June 1, 2010, Delta Air Lines ended MD-88 service between New York-LaGuarida and Boston, opting to use a combination of smaller, more efficient Airbus A319 jets and Shuttle America Embraer Regional Jets for all Boston flights. The operation between Boston and Reagan, now operated by ASA
Atlantic Southeast Airlines
Atlantic Southeast Airlines is an American airline based in the A-Tech Center in College Park, Georgia, flying to 144 destinations as a Delta Connection carrier and, as of February 2010, commenced service as a United Express carrier. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc. ASA operates...
and Comair
Comair
Comair is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines headquartered on the grounds of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport in unincorporated Boone County, Kentucky, United States, west of Erlanger, and south of Cincinnati, Ohio...
with Canadair Regional Jets, goes head to head with US Airways Shuttle aircraft but is not considered part of Delta Shuttle due to the lack of frequency of operations and aircraft size. JetBlue now independently offers the route as well with its slightly larger Embraer 190s.
City pairs
- Operated by Delta Air Lines
- New York-LaGuardiaLaGuardia AirportLaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
- BostonLogan International AirportGeneral Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
- New York-LaGuardia
- Operated by Shuttle AmericaShuttle AmericaShuttle America Corporation is a regional airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It feeds United Airlines flights at Chicago, Denver, and Washington as United Express, and feeds Delta Air Lines flights at Atlanta and New York as Delta Connection and Delta Shuttle.-History:Shuttle America...
- New York-LaGuardiaLaGuardia AirportLaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
- Washington-ReaganRonald Reagan Washington National AirportRonald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to... - New York-LaGuardiaLaGuardia AirportLaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
- Boston-LoganLogan International AirportGeneral Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways... - New York-LaGuardiaLaGuardia AirportLaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
- Chicago-O'HareO'Hare International AirportChicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
- New York-LaGuardia
Services and amenities
The shuttle offers a 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:- Open-seatingFirst-come, first-servedFirst-come, first-served – sometimes first-in, first-served and first-come, first choice – is a service policy whereby the requests of customers or clients are attended to in the order that they arrived, without other biases or preferences. The policy can be employed when processing sales orders,...
policy (to decrease delays associated with standard boarding procedures) - Enhanced snackSnackA snack is a small portion of food eaten between meals. The food might be snack food—items like potato chips or baby carrots—but could also simply be a smaller amount of any food item.-Snacks and health:...
service on all weekday flights (on "mainline" flights, Delta's enhanced snack service is reserved for flights longer than 3.5 hours) - Free wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and premium beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
In addition, in gate waiting areas at Shuttle airports, passengers are offered free newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, and juice
Juice
Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree...
.