The large market of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan area may not be as big as Delta thought.

On Monday, Delta Air Lines made headlines when it announced that its originally planned route from New York La Guardia Airport (LGA) to Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) would not launch in June as previously planned. 

This comes as a surprise as Delta had previously shown keen interest in the new route. However, Delta elaborated on the decision to not begin flights between the two cities in June, citing lower demand than expected and competition against American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

Delta already serves Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW) from La Guardia and has done so since before the COVID-19 pandemic, so a connection between the two cities still exists on this airline. However, service to DFW is very competitive against American Airlines. American is the main carrier at DFW and has its headquarters there. American operates in excess of 10 flights per day between Dallas and LaGuardia, in addition to other New York City-area airports. 

In place of the new route from New York, Delta will add new services to Dallas Love Field from some other of its hubs. Notably, the new route to DAL from the airline’s hub at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Delta will also increase its presence at DAL through a sixth daily flight to and from Atlanta-Hartsfield Jackson Int’l Airport (ATL). These new services will begin on June 5, 2023.

Not all hope is lost for travelers anxiously awaiting the start of an LGA-DAL flight on Delta. The airline stated that the postponement of the route’s launch is temporary and that the airline will continue to evaluate demand and ability to operate. Therefore, there remains a possibility that the route is just being placed on hold and will start sometime soon.

For the time being, it appears that passengers wanting a direct flight between the two airports will either need to change plans and fly into DFW or fly Southwest Airlines, which flies between LGA and DAL multiple times per day.