Delta downsizing flights to 14 more cities

The breadth of Delta Air Lines' latest round of cuts at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport became a lot clearer this week.

Delta is downsizing flights to 14 more cities as part of the airline's plan to eventually close its once-booming CVG hub. Service is being pared down to several business markets, including Philadelphia, Charlotte, Baltimore, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

The list of cities surfaced this week on an aviation insiders' website, and Delta officials confirmed Tuesday the airline is planning those cuts in addition to downsizing service to five other destinations, news first reported last month on Cincinnati.com.

Delta's cuts have now extended for a decade. Major downsizing had subsided at CVG the past few years, but the Atlanta-based airline is ramping up efforts this year to phase out most of its aging and inefficient 50-seat regional jets. CVG, the nation's most expensive airport, has the highest amount of those jets among Delta's seven U.S. hubs.

Delta has dropped below 100 daily flights with all the latest cuts – a far cry from the days of nearly 700 flights buzzing in and out of CVG from across the globe. Many business leaders have feared Delta will do what it did to Memphis in 2013, when the airline completely pulled the plug on its hub there.

Delta officials continue to say they have no immediate plans to do that here, citing strong support from the business community. Kroger, GE Aviation and Procter & Gamble maintain corporate accounts with Delta.

"I'd say it already stopped being a hub," said Brett Snyder, an airline expert who publishes the Cranky Flier blog. "If you look at any (Delta) press release, Cincinnati is not included as a 'key hub and market' in the boilerplate type. Delta is now running Cincinnati flights to match local market demand."

Greater Cincinnati business leaders – long concerned about the impact of Delta's downsizing on the region's ability to grow and retain jobs – figuratively shrugged their shoulders about the airline's latest cuts.

"There generally is a sense of resignation in the business community that Delta is going to do what they do," said Doug Moormann, a longtime regional economic development leader. "The business community is choosing to be nimble, looking for alternatives and recognizing we are never going to have the level of service that this community once had."

Compared to similar-sized cities, Cincinnati still has things pretty good with the service Delta offers, airline experts say. By this summer, Delta will offer nonstop flights to 36 cities, most of which are critical business markets such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Delta's daily flight to Paris from CVG remains the only nonstop overseas service from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and several Midwestern markets similar in size to Cincinnati.

"You have to remember this glass is still half-full," said Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel analyst. "You still have nonstops to a bunch of cities. Delta deserves credit for that.

He added: "As inconvenient as some of these cuts may be, I think Delta is trying to find the right balance between the mix of destinations, flights and frequency of flights and making sure that Cincinnati remains a profitable city."

Delta spokesman Anthony Black told The Enquirer last month the airline planned to discontinue all flights to San Diego, New Orleans and Jacksonville, Florida, and significantly reduce service to Orlando and Fort Myers, Florida. All the cuts will take place at different times in the coming months.

Here is a closer look at the additional cuts:

• All nonstop flights to Madison, Wisconsin, will be discontinued. CVG officials said the flight was averaging only 5-6 passengers per day.

• Delta will cut at least one nonstop flight a day to Toronto, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Hartford, Connecticut, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. In some cases, the airline is cutting two nonstop flights, and direct service may not be offered at all on some days after the changes take effect.

• Daily flights to Philadelphia will be reduced from four to three.

The news isn't all bad, though. Despite the cuts in frequency, Delta is adding larger jets and increasing the overall number of seats offered to about a half-dozen cities, including Chicago, Nashville and Detroit.

Also, low-cost carriers Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines already have filled some gaps left by Delta's recent cuts. Allegiant Air has started new flights to New Orleans and Jacksonville. Frontier plans to start one daily nonstop flight to Fort Myers next month and has increased its service to Orlando.

Low-cost carriers still have been reluctant to compete with Delta on most business routes from CVG, most likely fearing the dominant carrier would briefly bottom-out its fares to drive away competition. Business leaders, however, remain optimistic about JetBlue or Southwest coming to town in the coming years.

"Delta wants to be more efficient somewhere else and I understand that, but that means there's openings," said Brian Carley, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.

Delta's lease on CVG's Concourse B and the ticketing desk doesn't expire until 2020. At the end of this year, CVG's contract with all airlines expires. In the current contract, Delta has major control over decision-making at the airport, allowing the airline to have major control over ticket prices.

Under a new contract, ideally, more airlines would share in the decision-making power, So Delta's stranglehold on fares and decision-making should start to loosen in 2016.

In recent years, CVG has recruited most commercial airlines, which typically base their decisions on whether to start new flights on commitments from the business community. Airport officials and top Greater Cincinnati business leaders have met with JetBlue in recent years, hoping to lay the groundwork for the low-cost carrier to start flights to Boston or New York.

Johnna Reeder, CEO of the REDI regional economic development initiative, said the business community is working hand-in-hand with the airport, sharing data and courting prospective airlines.

"There are other airlines that are very interested in Cincinnati," Reeder said.

Enquirer reporter Bowdeya Tweh contributed.