By Philip Newman
The low-cost airline American Trans-Air known as ATA has increased flights between LaGuardia Airport and Chicago-Midway Airport and Indianapolis at a time of financial peril in much of the airline industry.
ATA expanded from six to eight its daily nonstop flights between LaGuardia and Midway and its daily nonstops between LaGuardia and Indianapolis from two to three.
“The Chicago to New York and Indianapolis to New York corridors are two very important and well-traveled routes for our passengers,” said George Mikelsons, chief executive officer and founder of ATA.
“With the challenging economic environment, many airlines decreased service into LaGuardia from Chicago and Indianapolis,” Mikelsons said. “We are responding to traveler demands for greater flexibility in flying to these important destinations for both business and pleasure.”
Mikelsons also said his airline is hiring flight attendants and gate agents in connection with its increasing service.
Besides the new service, ATA also announced it is offering a refundable $199 one-way fare to all of its LaGuardia and Newark nonstop destinations, which the airline said was 73 percent less than the lowest unrestricted refundable fare of $731 on other nonstop Chicago-LaGuardia flights on major airlines.
Founded in 1973 and with its headquarters in Indianapolis, ATA is the nation’s 10th largest passenger carrier based on revenue passenger miles. ATA has service from Chicago-Midway, Indianapolis, Tampa/St. Petersburg, San Francisco and Los Angeles to more than 40 destinations including Cancun, Guadalajara, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Puerto Vallarta and Aruba.
ATA, which began flights to LaGuardia in 1998, was ranked the No. 1 medium-sized airline worldwide last year by Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.
The airline requires no minimum stay and flies Boeing 737-800s, 757-300s and 757-200s.
