Comments on: Delta Keeps Shrinking Cincinnati but Not Memphis

By: Memphis Repair

Memphis Repair — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:28:10 +0000

Just an update. Compass already pulled out of Memphis, on or about the first of June 2010. Compass was also purchased by Trans States Airlines. Pinnacle Airlines just bought Mesaba Airlines, around the first of July 2010. Pinnacle Airlines has stated they want to separate their fleet between propeller driven and jet driven, giving all the propeller driven aircraft to Mesaba. Pinnacle will be taking over the leases of Mesaba CRJ-900. Pinnacle is Memphis TN based, and Mesaba is Eagan MN based.

By: Memphis

Memphis — Sun, 23 May 2010 20:18:31 +0000

I would guess the CRJ-900 to replace the DC9′s. I’m not sure if the 900′s have first class or not but the capacity is similar to a DC9 though.

Compass has a few EMB 175′s with first class going out of there this summer but rumor is they are moving out in September.

What always cautioned me about the Delta/NW merger was how numerous Deltas regional airlines were. I mean, how many regional partners do you need?

By: DougOH

DougOH — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:53:41 +0000

Not counting weekend flights to the Carribean, looks like the summer schedule out of Memphis has 45 mainline flights, and 34 larger RJ’s with 1st class, daily. Many of the mainline flights are on old NW DC9′s – what is likely to eventually replace those?

By: DougOH

DougOH — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:52:14 +0000

If anybody can verify for sure, looks like CVG will be back up to 35 mainline departures daily this summer from the 28 listed at the beginning of this thread. I also count another 24 daily flights on 76-seat jets with first class, which I believe did not exist in 2007. No, this isn’t the same as 64 mainline departures from 2007, but still pretty good service and not a wholesale abandonment of CVG.

By: DougOH

DougOH — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:59:21 +0000

Yes, I agree DL is potentially opening themselves up to competition, by giving up 22 gates. Each of the current tenants in terminal A – CO, US, AA, and UA really only need perhaps 2 gates each. A LLC could feasibly run a nice hub with 12 or 14 remaining gates – but I doubt Airtran can stomach competing with DL in yet another hub. Jetblue might be interested in using CVG to connect the dots better between their east and west coast cities, considering that JFK does not make an ideal connecting hub being so far northeast, and with severe congestion problems!

But I think if Jetblue or other LLC including Southwest were to go in and eventually work its way up to 100+ flights a day, Delta would just probably walk away from their lease when it expires in 2015 – dismantle the hub, and just maintain flights to other hub cities and select business markets.

By: Nicholas Barnard

Nicholas Barnard — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:22:16 +0000

Delta would love to pick and choose the LCC’s but they can’t because its illegal. The airport has to let anyone in for the most part.

I doubt London is coming back, especially given that they can get people from anywhere to there in one stop with no problem

By: DougOH

DougOH — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:37:44 +0000

For those who are rooting for Delta to maintain a hub in Cincinnati, perhaps you should be glad DL is dropping the 22 gates they do not need and helping the airport consolidate carriers into one terminal and reduce costs. I believe Delta will help the airport pick and choose which of any low-cost carriers they can live with, much like they are doing now with the proposed slot-swap at LGA and keeping Southwest out. In the meantime, their projected savings of $20 million per year, by consolidating and reducing employment, while maintaining the same number of flights (28 gates is still plenty for the approximately 190 daily flights), can only ensure the viability of keeping CVG as a hub and maintaining market share in the tri-state. DL is still the largest carrier at DAY and perhaps they intend to stay around the midwest!

Maybe more telling, is that with the summer schedule at CVG, DL has added or swapped larger planes (mainline and larger RJ’s) that have first class on 20 flights, to Austin (new route), San Antonio (new route), Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Hartford, Jacksonville, JFK, LGA, Minneapolis, Seattle, and DCA.

With the proposed slot swap with USAirways and all but vacating DCA, perhaps CVG will play a important role in maintaining access to DCA, and could be why the 4 daily flights are being upgraded to larger jets with first class. CVG is the closest of the current hubs to DCA.

A real vote of confidence would be if DL were to resume nonstop service to London in the near future!

By: DougOH

DougOH — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:35:09 +0000

As large the catchment area is between Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Dayton is – one airline or another will see a void in heavy business markets such as LA, Seattle, Hartford, Boston, New York, etc and not need connecting traffic. Southwest running 12 flights from CVG to their closest hubs of MDW, STL, BNA isn’t gonna cut it. IND has some direct flights to the large business markets going west but is a 2-3 hour drive from Ohio/KY.

By: CF

CF — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:30:13 +0000

DougOH wrote:

If Southwest were to move into CVG, would it become more like a Pittsburgh presence with just a handful of flights to key cities – or could Southwest create a mini-hub ala St. Louis?

Southwest is always looking for opportunities, so I have no doubt they're watching Delta's pullback in Cincinnati closely. There are, however, some big differences between St Louis and Cincinnati. Kansas City is the current Southwest station closest to St Louis, and that's 237 miles away. Meanwhile, from Cincinnati, Southwest serves Louisville 84 miles away, Indianapolis 99 miles away, and Columbus 115 miles away. So it wouldn't serve as large of a catchment area as St Louis. So I don't know that we'd see it grow as large as St Louis, but there could be opportunity.

By: DougOH

DougOH — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:07:52 +0000

If Southwest were to move into CVG, would it become more like a Pittsburgh presence with just a handful of flights to key cities – or could Southwest create a mini-hub ala St. Louis? With 85 mainline flights daily at STL, such a presence at CVG could in some ways be better than the couple dozen mainline flights Delta has left, and DL could always keep mainline flights to MSP, ATL, SLC, and CDG like they do in other cities. Other LCC’s could fill some voids with mainline flights to other places like DEN, BOS, etc. All that would really be lost are smaller city direct flights and the official STATUS as a HUB. Oh, and prices would be a lot cheaper than they are now…