NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. said it is poised to become New York City's busiest airline with plans for expansion through 2012.
Already handing 22 percent of the passengers in and out of LaGuardia Airport, Delta recently swapped terminal slots at Reagan National Airport in Washington with US Airways Group that will put Delta far ahead of the next largest competitor at La Guardia.
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines is currently the second-busiest airline at LaGuardia, managing 16 percent of its passenger traffic, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Delta's new slots at La Guardia will allow it to add more than 100 daily flights out of the airport. The plan is to bring its daily itinerary to 264 daily flights connecting to more than 60 cities, 29 more cities than the current schedule handles.
Delta said Friday it would spend $140 million upgrading two terminals at the airport.
The airline is also the second-busiest carrier at the city's other major airport, John F. Kennedy International.
Delta manages 140 flights out of JFK airport daily, connecting to 80 cities.
Expansion plans "really position Delta as the leading airport in New York," Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said at a news conference in Manhattan last week.
