"Delta to cut about 13% of its LAX flights"

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Delta to cut about 13% of its LAX flights
The airline plans to end service on nine routes in late August, including
flights to several cities in Mexico and nonstops to Boston.
By Peter Pae
The Los Angeles (CA) Times


Delta Air Lines, struggling with high fuel costs, plans to slash about 13%
of its flights at Los Angeles International Airport, including nonstop
service to Boston, Hartford, Conn., and Columbus, Ohio, according to a
national flight database.

The latest cuts would be the deepest so far at LAX, which had managed to
escape the brunt of an industrywide move to ground flights as a way to cope
with escalating fuel prices. Delta is the fourth-largest carrier at the
airport.

With the cutbacks, passengers can expect higher fares and fewer travel
options, particularly to Mexico and other Latin American destinations. In
all, Delta plans to end service on nine routes from LAX, including to
several cities in Mexico, starting in late August.

For Delta, the cutbacks would in effect end the Atlanta-based carrier's
plans to expand at LAX and make the largest airport in Southern California
one of its major hubs. Other cities that Delta has already cut this year
from its LAX schedule include Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Ixtapa, Mexico. It
has also suspended plans to launch a nonstop service to Washington's Dulles
International Airport from LAX.

Although the airline has not publicly disclosed the route cuts, local
managers and airport officials were notified of the changes this week. A
Delta spokesman couldn't confirm all of the routes that would be cut but
said they were part of an overall company effort to cut domestic flights by
13%.

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