Sep. 1--After standing eyeball to eyeball with American Airlines over hub service to New York, it appears Northwest Airlines blinked.
Northwest has dropped plans to launch a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport -- where American operates a hub -- to LaGuardia Airport in New York. That flight was announced in retaliation for American's plans to begin LaGuardia service from Minneapolis St. Paul Airport, the home of Northwest's hub.
The development was a competitive victory for American. The airline has a monopoly on LaGuardia flights from D/FW, and the route is among the carrier's most popular, and profitable, from North Texas.
But it also means that North Texas travelers will miss out on a fare war that could have brought down prices to New York.
"Looks like American won this one, even before any wheels left the ground," said travel analyst Terry Trippler, who operates Internet site Tripplertravel.com.
American is still planning to launch its service between LaGuardia and Minneapolis St. Paul. On Friday, the carrier was offering October fares on the route for as low as $124 each way.
Northwest spokesman Roman Blahoski said that the airline decided that its LaGuardia slots would be better allocated to key markets in the Midwest, including Des Moines, Iowa; Flint, Mich.; and Madison, Wis. The airline will begin service to those markets Nov. 4.
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Trebor Banstetter, 817-390-7064
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