The original blueprint for low-fare airlines called for flying into a city's older, smaller or less convenient airport and betting people would follow the cheap seats.
Delta Air Lines' new all-coach carrier, called Song, has turned that strategy on its head in the critical New York market.
With the launch of a route between Tampa and New York's LaGuardia Airport on Monday, Song now flies into all three major New York area airports, the only low-fare carrier to do so. It already serves John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark International.
Song's main competitor, JetBlue Airways, flies only into Kennedy. Low-fare leader Southwest Airlines serves only Long Island's Islip MacArthur Airport. AirTran Airways flies to LaGuardia and Newark International but not nonstop from Florida.
Just 12 miles from midtown Manhattan, LaGuardia has long been a favorite among business travelers to New York. Besides Manhattan dwellers, travelers from Westchester County and Connecticut prefer flying out of LaGuardia, said Song president John Selvaggio.
"We kept hearing customers saying they didn't like going to JFK to get low fares to Florida," he said.
But Tampa Bay area business travelers hoping to upgrade to first class might be disappointed.
To avoid competing with its own low-fare division, Delta doesn't fly routes where Song operates. So the airline doesn't offer any nonstop flights with first-class seats between Tampa and New York, the No. 1 destination from Tampa International Airport.
At businesses such as Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, that won't make a big difference, said Tricia DeCesare, travel operations supervisor. Like many companies, Raymond James rarely lets employees fly any more on pricey last-minute coach fares charged by Delta and other traditional carriers.
"We have pushed a lot of business to JetBlue through JFK," she said. "It's not that long a commute from JFK (to Manhattan). They've gotten used to the single-class service."
Song hopes to steal away some of that business by offering flights to LaGuardia at a competitive price.
The airline started from Tampa in May, with nonstops to JFK and Boston's Logan Airport. With the two daily LaGuardia flights, Song now has eight daily departures from Tampa. The airline is scheduled to begin nonstop flights to Los Angeles on Sept. 3 and Hartford on Sept. 10.
Delta doesn't break out separate financial numbers or operating statistics for Song. But Selvaggio said about 77 percent of Song's seats were full in July, ahead of the Delta's goal for the fledgling carrier.
Designed primarily to carry bargain-hunting tourists from the Northeast to Florida, Song has proven surprisingly popular among Floridians, he said.
Since its launch April 15, 43 percent of calls into Delta reservations centers for Song flights have come from the Sunshine State, compared to 33 percent from the New York area and 14 percent from Boston. But that might be a seasonal phenomenon, Selvaggio said, with more heat-addled Floridians wanting to go North than vice versa.
