Delta Air Lines plans additional cuts in service in Memphis

Andy Ashby, Memphis Business Journal
 
Delta Air Lines Inc. might cut its Memphis, Tennessee, departures again by the first week of January, which means less overall non-stop service from Memphis International Airport.

The Atlanta-based airline could cut its Memphis departures from 111 to 94, according to an airliners.net forum. That would be a 15.3 percent cut, with three destinations being discontinued and 10 others seeing reduced flight frequency.

Delta  would discontinue service to Birmingham, Ala., and Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville, Fla., while reducing flights to Nashville, Jackson, Miss., Los Angeles, Little Rock, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tulsa and Knoxville.

“It’s something that is developing,” Larry Cox, president and chief executive officer with the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, said. “We don’t know the specifics yet.”

Fort Lauderdale is a seasonal flight which normally ends in early April. Jacksonville is a mostly seasonal market, while not many people fly from Memphis to Birmingham, according to Cox.

“It’s what we’ve been expecting: that Delta will continue to reduce flights and put their airlines where they can make the most money,” Cox said.

Delta has been reducing its fleet of 50-seat regional jets, a type of plane which serviced most of these markets.

Cox thinks that within a year or two, all of these 50-seat regional jets could be gone. That could reduce flights to some cities from two or three flights a day to one or two flights a day based on demand.

Source:  http://www.bizjournals.com