Just announced, additional cuts to CVG:
• All nonstop flights to MSN will be discontinued. CVG officials said the flight was averaging only 5-6 passengers per day.
• Delta will cut at least one nonstop flight a day to YYZ, PIT, BWI, STL, MCI, MKE, CLT, BDL, RDU, RIC, and GRR. In some cases, the airline is cutting two nonstop flights, and direct service may not be offered at all on some days after the changes take effect.
• Daily flights to PHL will be reduced from four to three.
The news isn't all bad, though. Despite the cuts in frequency, Delta is adding larger jets and increasing the overall number of seats offered to about a half-dozen cities, including ORD, BNA and DTW.
Also, low-cost carriers Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines already have filled some gaps left by Delta's recent cuts. Allegiant Air has started new flights to MSY and JAX. Frontier plans to start one daily nonstop flight to RSW next month and has increased its service to MCO.
Low-cost carriers still have been reluctant to compete with Delta on most business routes from CVG, most likely fearing the dominant carrier would briefly bottom-out its fares to drive away competition. Business leaders, however, remain optimistic about JetBlue or Southwest coming to town in the coming months.
"Delta wants to be more efficient somewhere else and I understand that, but that means there's openings," said Brian Carley, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
Delta's lease on CVG's Concourse B and the ticketing desk doesn't expire until 2020. At the end of this year, CVG's contract with all airlines expires. In the current contract, Delta has major control over decision-making at the airport, allowing the airline to have major control over ticket prices.
Under a new contract, ideally, more airlines would share in the decision-making power, So Delta's stranglehold on fares and decision-making should start to loosen in 2016.
In recent years, CVG has recruited most commercial airlines, which typically base their decisions on whether to start new flights on commitments from the business community. Airport officials and top Greater Cincinnati business leaders have met with JetBlue in recent years, hoping to lay the groundwork for the low-cost carrier to start flights to BOS or JFK.