West Texas or BOS--PHL? DL had a few CRJs on the PHL to BOS route, but we all know that was a bust against USAir A319s and E190s. West Texas lost DL service a long time ago, when DL had a DFW base and flew 737-200s to all of those cities. The main cause in my opinion was the cancer called RJs. The DL President at the time, a Fred Greed, thought RJs were the SHIZNET. He loved them, and thought businessmen wanted FREQUENCY, not quality. The 737-200s did well in DFW initially, but then SWA started FLA service, and the thought was to move the 737s out of DFW and into FLA to start DL Express. What replaced the 737s in West Texas? You got it--RJs. Greed actually put RJs on OAK-DFW-DCA service, which was another bust against AA MD80s. Eventually, Greed was given his slip, and what did he do then? He started Virgin America Airlines using Airbus planes, instead of RJs. RJs have a certain place in our industry, but when times go bad or when you compete with LCCs with larger plane, then RJs lose everytime. Thankfully, DL has parked over 100 RJs since last year, and more are on the way. And, the Gov't forced Fred Greed to leave airlines in the USA and probably move back to Germany.
There is your story.