New York is one of the most important markets we serve at Delta, and it has long been our goal to become the preferred airline for customers traveling to and from New York.

And we’ve made a lot of progress in the past decade. We built an international hub at JFK that connects the city to points across the globe, including Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. We broke ground last year on a $1.2 billion expansion and enhancement of Terminal 4 at JFK. And you’re seeing Delta’s name all over the city as the official airline of the Yankees and Mets, the Knicks, the Rangers and Madison Square Garden, just to name a few.

Today marks a new step in our New York expansion, and it’s Delta’s biggest move yet. We’ve unveiled our schedule for 2012 that creates a new domestic hub at LaGuardia Airport. We’ll be adding 100 new daily flights to nearly 30 new cities from LaGuardia. We’re adding new service to top business markets like Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth and Cleveland, and adding or expanding service to small- and mid-sized cities across the country, including Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y.; Richmond, Va.; Greensboro, N.C.; and Norfolk, Va.

Many smaller communities will be getting jet service on Delta to LaGuardia, a significant upgrade from smaller, turborprop aircraft that previously served those markets.

Overall, we’ll be adding 4 million new seats every year at LaGuardia.  And we can do that without increasing congestion simply by using larger aircraft than other airlines had previously.  In the end, our new LGA service will enhance customer choice and increase competition in the market. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently concluded that our New York expansion has significant benefits for consumers – and we strongly agree.

It’s the largest single-carrier expansion in New York in many years, which makes this an exciting and historic day for Delta and our New York customers.

To make sure we can handle all of these new flights smoothly, we’re taking over Terminal C at LaGuardia, and building a 600-foot bridge connecting it with Delta Terminal D. We’ll operate a total of 29 gates at both terminals, and we’re also going to add a new Delta Sky Club in Terminal C, in addition to the newly-renovated one in Terminal D.

Including our six gates at the Marine Air Terminal, we’ll have a total of 35 gates at LaGuardia by summer 2012 – more than double what we operate now.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in New York in 2012!

Gail Grimmett

Senior Vice President –New York

If you’re the hero who pulls everyone together for that ski trip each year or the family reunion you’ve been talking about for ages, we have an exciting new tool that will help you trade the incessant messages within Facebook to a private planning trip planning forum.

Introducing Delta Away We Go. With this revolutionary new Facebook app you can plan, discuss, and share details about your trip with the people you’ve invited along for the journey. All privately, and all within Facebook.

We know that whether you have 5 or 50 people in your group, details like who’s arriving when, who’s staying where, and who’s doing what are difficult to organize and confusing to communicate broadly. But with the new Delta Away We Go app those problems will become a distant memory!

Some of the features include:

• Simple, private ways to share information. Use the tool to invite guestsfrom your existing Facebook friends list and privately share your trip information on Facebook.
• Trip wizard. This feature gives you the ability to name your trip and give your friends the basic 411.
• Maps & activity suggestions. This maps feature allows you to search for places to go and fun
• things to do at your trip destination.
• RSVP tracker. Keep up with who’s coming and who already booked their tickets. Now there’s no uncertainty whether you’re the only one who bought that plane ticket yet!
• Countdown calendar. Lets you know just how many days before the fun begins!

With this new app, we’re out in front as the first airline to continue developing social tools to make your travels easier. From the Delta Ticket Counter and 24-7 customer service from @DeltaAssist to our Twitter and Facebook pages, this new app is another exciting step for our social sphere and we look forward to hearing about your trip!

Denise F.

eCommerce project leader

Everyone loves a great deal on a hip new restaurant or local museum. And for those of you who have taken advantage of the recent rise in online daily deals, you know just how valuable they are! Which is why today we’re excited to bring you LivingSocial deals exclusively on delta.com.

How does LivingSocial work with your travel plans on Delta? Now when you’ve booked a flight on delta.com and access your My Trips information (where you can manage your travel with personalized offers for hotels, car rentals, & more), you can also sign up to receive deals from LivingSocial specific to your destination city.

The best part? You only receive deals redeemable for the dates you’ll be traveling in that particular city, so you don’t have to worry about offers that don’t apply to you or expire before you arrive.

Here’s an example: Say you’re taking a leisurely vacation to come visit us here in Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. LivingSocial will send you deals for Atlanta that you can use while you’re on vacation here in the city, and when your great vacation is over and you’re back in your hometown, we’ll stop sending you Atlanta deals and you’ll only receive offers for your city.

Make sense? It’s all about making your digital travel experience easier and bringing you even more features to personalize your trip with us! We hope you like this new addition and we want to know what deals you’re planning on using, so be sure to share your upcoming adventures with us!

Smita Premkumar

Customer Personalization Team