Southwest Airlines is moving all its New York area operations to the city’s being-rebuilt-as-we-speak LaGuardia Airport, abandoning what has been a less-than-successful operation at Newark Liberty.
Because LGA is limited, Southwest is turning to a capacity trick to increase the number of seats it can sell at LaGuardia by swapping out 737-700s, with 143 seats for 172-seat 737-800s and eventually 737 Max 8s. Up to now, well over 90% of the LaGuardia flights were on 700s. The airline expects to be flying at least 10% more passengers than before on its 35 round-trip-a-day allowance.
Southwest was one of the first airlines to make the jump to LGA’s new Terminal B when its East Concourse opened last December, giving it access to the most spacious and updated part of the airport.
