Rapid City Regional Airport Executive Director Patrick Dame said the new seasonal route will be flown on Saturdays through at least Sept. 4 and brings the total number of summer season non-stop flights to 23 destinations.
“This is great news for Rapid City and the region. As we continue to move out of the pandemic, having more destinations is great for our local and regional economy for those passengers flying in, as well as providing additional opportunities for our local passengers to travel to multiple destinations,” Dame said in a news release.
The airport is hopeful the new route will be successful and may lead to future expansion, he said. Many of Rapid City’s existing routes began as less than daily and/or seasonal service and expanded to meet the ever-increasing need for air travel.
LaGuardia is the third busiest airport serving New York City and is the closest of the three to Manhattan. American Airlines said the route will be flown on an American Eagle jet with 76 seats.
The flight will depart New York City at 10:20 a.m. Eastern time on Saturdays and arrive in Rapid City at 12:38 p.m. Mountain time. The route will then leave Rapid City at 1:15 p.m. Mountain time and arrive at LaGuardia at 7:30 p.m.
Rapid City offers year-round service to Chadron, Nebraska; Dallas; Denver; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; Phoenix- Mesa; and Salt Lake City.
Seasonal service is available to Appleton, Wisconsin; Chicago; Charlotte, North Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Houston; Indianapolis; Knoxville, Tennessee; Los Angeles; Nashville, Tennessee; Newark, New Jersey; New York City; Peoria, Illinois; Pittsburgh; Punta Gorda, Florida; Orlando- Sanford, Florida; and San Francisco.
