Southwest Buys $7.5 Mil Worth of LaGuardia Landing Spots, Which Is Called 'Making a Statement'

It's no secret at all that the economy is currently "not good". Such circumstances make it tough for businesses to break even -- I feel like driving down the road I see 'Going Out of Business Sale!' signs littering the curbs -- much less prosper.

And the airline business has been hit up a little bit too. But apparently, that's not stopping Southwest Airlines, who announced today that they have purchased $7.5 million worth of landing spots at LaGuardia Airport in New York City from ATA Airlines.

"It is our intent, with the successful conclusion of the transaction, to make plans to initiate service from LaGuardia," said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly. "Even in this volatile environment, we have said we must monitor the competitive landscape and take advantage of prudent market opportunities."

And yes, technically Southwest did purchase ATA (now bankrupt) as a whole. But they seem to have zero interest in actually acquiring anything other than the landing spots, which says something pretty stout about their play in this tough market.

Southwest has clearly been marketing themselves as an airline that doesn't tack on surcharges to customers for baggage check-in, reservations by phone, non-refundable ticket refunds or curbside check-in.

So, yeah, couple their "consumer-first" attitude with this strong financial push to wedge themselves in a major market means that SW understands people are going to keep flying -- there's no better time to travel than now, actually. And by locking themselves into a major spot in one of the world's biggest airports, they appear at least poised to take a run at the "Big Three" of Delta, U.S. Airways and American.