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Delta to scrap Memphis hub, cut flights and 230 workers

Submitted
June 4 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc said on Tuesday that it plans to scrap its Memphis, Tennessee, hub in September, cutting 230 jobs and scaling back flights to make the location profitable. Delta plans to drop to about 60 flights a day in September from almost 300 daily flights when Memphis was a hub for Northwest Airlines, which was bought by Delta in 2008. (www.chicagotribune.com) More...

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markdickinson
markdickinson 7
How can they claim it's not making money? Every time I flew there it was a minimum of $600. Just admit its too close to ATL.
olseric
olseric 4
I'm surprised it lasted this long. They've been axing it little by little for years.

I remember after the last round of cuts, they said something to the effect of, "There aren't enough passengers originating in Memphis to keep it sustainable." So, what is Atlanta? You can't BS me saying 75% of the people on flights to/from ATL are from the area...
99NY
99NY 3
How long till FedEx Express starts putting 4 rows of seats in their freighters and auctions off the "supernumeraries" to the higest bidder?

blueashflyer
blueashflyer 3
they left us out to dry in Cincinnati the same way.
charlotte96
justin martin 2
If SWA was really smart they would make MEM a focus city because MEM is in a prime location of the country.
k9jd
Jd Young 1
SWA already has made BNA a focus city...Too close for that.
phealey
Peter Healey 1
goodmorning to all ,I take an interest in the comments made in the news from your area of the woods , do you receive info relating to the N.Z. scene .Way down under . Just a thought.
ssjan
ssjan 1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Delta finally dropping MEM hub

It's not like it's a hub anyway but they finally dropped it.

http://jansaviation.com/newsn.php?art=delta-dropping-former-northwest-hub
preacher1
preacher1 1
Well, it probably is to close to ATL. ATL approaches actually start not far out of MEM, at least for their high level stuff. Reducing flights to 60 per day is still no small amount but they will just not have a pilot base there and significantly reduce employees. This has been talked about for months. Pinnacle(DAL owned) left at the end of May.
Kstech17
Southwest starts MEM service in November..After this news I have a feeling that Southwest will make MEM bigger than originally plotted. Fingers crossed. It would be amazing for the city!
RRKen
They blame the 50 seat regional craft? That is what fed the former NWA hubs. First thing they did was eliminate those Regional's short hop flights, that filled the seats of the DAL flights.

While I did not like the prices at MSP (almost a monopoly at the time), at least it got me there and onto connecting flights. It sure beat driving.

Look what is happening today. I can hop an independent carrier (Great Lakes) to MSP, and catch Air Tran or SWA to their hubs for a heck of a lot cheaper. Consumer happy, SWA/TRS is making money. Where does that leave DAL?

I remember DAL's reaction to SWA initiating service into their MSP hub......panic! Now with Air Tran flying out of MSP with the same number of flights to ATL at about the same times, for a lot less, you can see why these old hubs are going away.

But by all means, cut off the flights from Podunk that fed passengers to the main line services.

I remember a comment an employee heard from a DAL manager at MSP after the merger, as it became a prediction of future events: "Stand back and watch how a real airline operates".
canuck44
canuck44 1
This should come as a shock to none. As has happened in other areas, don't be surprised if SW steps up their point to point service there bleeding off some of the traffic Delta has left and rationalizing some of the prices.
preacher1
preacher1 1
I don't know where to but SWA has already announced extra flights beginning in November
AccessAir
AccessAir 0
Not surprised. They killed their own Cincinnati hub. American has done this several times when they bought out Reno Air, they destroyed that nice operation. Look what they did after acquiring TWA?? St.Louis is all but a ghost town. Southwest Airlines is not really the answer because Southwest refuses to align themselves with any regional airline to serve the smaller communities that surround a hub.
Once again, its big business Airlines screwing over Middle America only in the Southern tier.
If Delta really think thats they should be putting all their eggs in one basket with ATL they are STUPID!!!! They dehubbed DFW, they dehubbed CVG and now MEM?? Really?? I cant wait to see the giant cat fight at ATL when the Air Tran and Southwest marriage finalizes. These airlines deserve all the crap that they get themselves into. End of story.
rgraves845
rick graves 1
I will say these guys are smarter then we are! I think DL management see's they cannot compete with SW/AT in that market!

So, you pull out. You cannot justify 300 flights a day to a market of 650K folks? There biggest market there be re positioning Fed Ex Pilots?
Aircraft19
Aircraft19 0
That sucks

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