Here’s a stunner - this, from Southwest’s blog:

“Brace yourselves. Today Southwest Airlines announced our intention to bid to begin service to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.”

Southwest is seeking to buy 14 take-off and landing sites at LaGuardia that had been owned by the now bankrupt ATA. According to Dow Jones/CNN, Southwest “submitted a $7.5 million bid to the Indianapolis bankruptcy court that’s overseeing the sale of assets owned by Southwest’s former business partner, ATA Airlines.”

The Southwest blog cautions that this is not a done deal - and it’s not even clear where or when Southwest would fly to and from New York City if they get the slots — perhaps next year - but there’s an undeniable sense of excitement in the air, which we haven’t seen much of in this bleak economic climate. Here’s Southwest’s CEO:

“Even in this volatile environment, we have said we must monitor the competitive landscape and take advantage of prudent market opportunity.” –Gary Kelly, Southwest

So far, the closest Southwest has come to cracking the Big Apple has been Long Island’s MacArthur Airport which is about 50 miles away. If they get the ATA slots, they will have really hit the big time.