Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration urged airlines to cut back on the amount of flights they offer by up to 10% at some of the nation’s busiest airports due to a lack of in air-traffic controllers.
Thanks to a lack of pilots and other airport workers, a casualty of the buyouts and early retirements that airlines offered employees during the pandemic, there was an unusually high number of delays and cancellations last year. In an effort to prevent that from happening this summer, and as a way to ease overall congestion, the FAA has been urging airlines to cut back a bit.
Don’t Miss: One of the World's Busiest Airports Is Cutting Flights Permanently for This Grim Reason
Now, Delta (DAL) has announced that it has removed two more cities from its schedule of flights, bringing its total number of cut flights to 17.
Starting on June 5, Delta will no longer fly to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and State College, Pennsylvania. At the moment, as noted by The Point Guy, the airline offers once-daily flights between Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) and La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE), as well as twice-daily flights from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to University Park Airport (SCE) near State College.
Delta says the cuts are temporary, and that it will notify anyone affected by this change. It said they will be “accommodated accordingly.”
Delta Still Has Staffing Problems
Delta has approved a new contract that includes 34% raises over four years, as part of an investment effort to recruit and train a new generation of pilots and to replace the 17,000 employees who left during the pandemic.
But it’s going to take a while to get everyone up to speed, so Delta has had to cut back on the amount of flights it offers at its regional markets. Typically, pilots will start their careers at smaller markets before working their way to the major hubs, if that’s what they want, but at the moment, Delta doesn’t have the staff on hand for these markets.
Since the pandemic, the company has now cut the following 17 cities from its flight schedules, and has not indicated when they might be reinstated.
- Akron, Ohio
- Cody, Wyo.
- Durango, Colo.
- Erie, Pa.
- Flint, Mich.
- Fort Smith, Ark.
- Grand Junction, Colo.
- La Crosse, Wis.
- Lincoln, Neb.
- Manchester, N.H.
- New Bern, N.C.
- Newburgh, N.Y.
- Newport News, Va.
- Peoria, Ill.
- Santa Barbara, Calif.
- State College, Pa.
- Wilkes-Barre, Pa,
