When Will Southwest Begin Service to LaGuardia?

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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Update, April 7: Southwest has announced its destinations for service from LaGuardia. Read about it here.

The champion of the alternative airport has set its sights on the big cheese of primary airports. That’s right, in the not-so-distant future, Southwest may start flying in and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, offering, for the first time, direct access to New York City on the popular low-cost carrier.

According to the Dallas Morning News, a judge has approved Southwest’s plan to buy the assets of the defunct ATA Airlines, including 14 take-off and landing slots at LaGuardia. Southwest’s vice president of properties says he hopes to begin service this summer.

Right now, the closest you can get to New York City on Southwest is Long Island Islip (ISP) Airport, about 50 miles from Manhattan. Though LaGuardia is infamous for delays and congestion, for Southwest (and the majority of its passengers, including me), the proximity to New York City outweighs the hassle of the airport and the hit the airline’s on-time performance will likely take.

No word yet on what the routes might be. Which ones are you hoping for? Let us know by submitting a comment below!

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