Delta to further trim Cincinnati flight schedule
CINCINNATI -- Delta Air Lines is again shrinking its schedule at its Cincinnati hub, The Cincinnati Enquirer has learned.
The Atlanta-based airline will trim the number of daily flights it flies on several business-oriented routes from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). The reduced frequencies will come on routes to Chicago, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Baltimore, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, according to a new flight schedule obtained by The Enquirer.
Delta is ending all flights between Cincinnati and Madison, Wisc. The airline also will no longer offer daily non-stop service to Pittsburgh, Toronto and Richmond, Va., reducing those routes to less-than-daily service.
In all, Delta will cut about 20 daily flights, according to an Enquirer analysis of the schedule. Most of the cuts take effect by September, a time when airlines pare down flights after the summer peak travel season.
Delta and CVG officials continue to say the airline remains committed to Cincinnati and does not have any immediate plans to pull the plug on the hub. The latest round of cuts, however, comes less than a month after Delta officials told The Enquirer the airline had decided to completely cut or reduce service to five cities.
"Cincinnati remains an important market in the Delta system," Delta spokesman Anthony Black said. "Cincinnati continues to be profitable."
That round of cuts – first reported by the Enquirer – included discontinuing flights to San Diego, New Orleans and Jacksonville, Florida. Those cuts also will drop Delta below 100 daily flights at CVG.
After all the cuts take effect, Delta will have cut about 600 daily flights at CVG during the past decade.
Some of the cuts this year are a result of Delta phasing out aging 50-seat regional jets from its fleet. CVG has the highest amount of 50-seat regional jets among Delta's seven U.S. hubs.
In some cases, Delta is replacing those jets with larger airplanes – so the number of available seats remains about the same despite the reduction in frequency.
"Delta has advised CVG that the reductions are driven by their reduction in 50-seat regional jets, and aircraft and crew constraints are forcing reductions in many markets," CVG spokeswoman Melissa Wideman said. "The reductions are not unique to CVG, as several other Delta hubs have seen similar-type reductions in markets where the 50-seat jet is being used."
Other cities where Delta will reduce its number of daily flights to from CVG include: Kansas City, Milwaukee, Hartford, Conn., Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Raleigh-Durham.
Concern remains in the business community that Delta is moving toward pulling the plug on its Cincinnati hub, much like the airline did in Memphis in 2013. Cincinnati is a larger business market, and major companies such as Kroger, GE Aviation and Procter & Gamble continue to have corporate travel contracts with Delta.
However, Delta's lease on CVG's Concourse B and the ticketing desk doesn't expire until 2020.
The Cincinnati Enquireris owned by Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY . Gannett newspaper stories occasionally are used in Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. You can follow the author of this story, Enquirer reporter Jason Williams on Twitter at @jwilliamscincy.