Delta to cut MEM by 25%, mostly RJs

[On Your Six]

Sorry I can't paste the article, but the meat of it was some Europe cuts after Labor Day and a projected loss of between $250-400 million on Japan disaster. High fuel was cited in most of the cuts, and previous announcement of parking of RJs and Dc9s was brought up in conference call


OYS

 

[Abernathy]

It makes sense for ASA to move all of their 200s from ATL to MEM now doesn't it.....

 

[pkunzip66]

DELTA AIR LINES TO REDUCE DEPARTURES FROM MEMPHIS BY 25 PERCENT

By Wayne Risher
Updated Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Airport boosters today characterized Delta's downsizing of the Memphis hub as more of a trim than an actual haircut.

They hope it will grow back, but said that largely depends on economic recovery, oil prices and other factors out of their control.

Their comments came after Delta announced this morning it's slashing 25 percent of flights out of Memphis by year's end; it's an 8-10 percent cut in passenger capacity, affecting routes served by smaller, inefficient aircraft that carry fewer people.

It’s serious, but not the devastating blow predicted by naysayers when Delta announced plans three years ago to gobble up what was then the city's hub operator, Northwest Airlines.

The reduction, announced by Delta officials at an investor conference, comes as the airline scrambles to absorb a $3 billion hit from higher fuel prices this year and amid uncertainty over continuing turmoil in oil-rich regions.

Delta president Ed Bastian said the airline plans to cut 3 percent of its domestic seat capacity this year, rather than increasing it 2 percent as previously planned.

Once the reductions kick in, Delta will be down to 150-170 daily departures from Memphis. That compares to 211 today and about 250 immediately after the merger with Northwest was finalized in October 2008, a drop of 32 to 40 percent.

Greater Memphis Chamber president John Moore said the Memphis cuts are nothing like what happened in Cincinnati, a pre-merger Delta hub where departures plummeted by more than 50 percent. He said where Memphis is going in for a trim, Cincinnati got shaved.

Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur said a full list of cities losing flights from Memphis won't be known until probably July or August.

Memphis officials said they were comforted by Delta assurances that direct service will be maintained to the city's top 50 markets, led by New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston.

"Delta assures us our mainline flights are not going to be impacted, and our Amsterdam flight is not going to be impacted," said Airport Authority chairman Arnold Perl.

Delta said beginning this fall, it will weed out small, regional markets where at least 90 percent of customers are connecting via Memphis, rather than originating or departing. The cuts will be in addition to recently eliminated flights such as Montgomery, Ala.; McAllen and Amarillo, Texas, and Monroe, La., which had less than 10 local Memphis customers a day flying each way.

Delta plans to eliminate flying by smaller aircraft, Saab 340s turboprops and CRJ-200 regional jets, that carry 34 and 50 passengers, respectively, primarily on flights currently operated by regional carriers Comair and ASA, said Baur.

Memphis-based regional carrier Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s planes won't be affected, spokesman Joe Williams said. However, Pinnacle officials were still evaluating how the Delta announcement would affect gate agents, baggage handlers and other ground services workers who serve Comair and ASA under contracts with Delta.

"We have been conservative with ground operations hiring," Williams said. "Any impact concerns us, but because we've been conservative, it will be less."

Officials from the chamber, airport and Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau conceded the cuts are serious, but said they won't have a major impact on people traveling to and from Memphis, which constitutes about 20 percent of the airport's total traffic. There could be 800,000 fewer people a year passing through the airport on connecting flights, but the impact on airport finances and operations is expected to be minimal.

Delta's action doesn't diminish efforts to position the city as America's Aerotropolis, said Perl.

Because of the FedEx Express world hub, Memphis is first and foremost a cargo airport that also happens to have a soon-to-be-smaller passenger airline hub. FedEx landing fees generate about 80 percent of airport income.

"The X factor in all this is clearly FedEx, and Cincinnati has nothing like that," said Perl. "Memphis today is in the top 30 air operations in the world because of the dual hub status."

 

[pkunzip66]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/mar/22/delta-air-lines-reduce-departures-memphis-25-perce/

Link for all that wanna know where I found it.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Comair + ASA pulled back. Where will the ASA 200's go?

 

[Jetjockey]

Mojave desert?

 

[SPDBRD747400]

Comair + ASA pulled back. Where will the ASA 200's go?

2 for 1 but I hope not.

 

[701EV]

Obviously Greater Memphis Chamber president John Moore doesn't know that in CVG it started with a 25% cut in capacity about 5 years ago.

 

[on autopilot]

CVG now MEM. Delta doesn't discriminate when it comes to forced sodomy.

 

[JoeMerchant]

MEM, the new CVG...The secondary hubs are toast....CVG, MEM, and CLE are probably toast as hubs.