We’ve known for a few weeks now that Delta was planning to cut domestic capacity, but today it was reported that as a result of these cuts Cincinatti will be seeing a 23% decrease in capacity, which results in a loss of over 90 daily flights depending on the day of the week. Delta claims that this move is focused more on frequency reduction than the elimination of destinations.
This isn’t too surprising, as Cincinatti has plenty of regional jet flights that don’t make money like they used to. Surprisingly, though, Comair isn’t seeing too many cuts in this market – most of them are out of JFK. The other two regional carriers for Delta from CVG are Chautauqua and ASA. Does anyone know which of these two airlines is seeing the most cuts in service?
Also, Cincinatti has historically had very high airfares when compared to other airports in the country, and no low cost carrier (LCC) has had much success there simply because it was too hard to compete with Delta. Basically, whenever a carrier with low fares would enter the market, Delta would also lower fares and wait for the LCC to give up. Do these cuts increase the chances of a LCC coming to CVG? Not really, as smaller markets are primarily being cut. Those looking for a LCC will still have to drive to Loisville, Dayton, Colombus, or Indianapolis to catch a flight on AirTran, Southwest, or Frontier.
Will currently ticketed flights be honored?