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  /  All News   /  Delta Air Lines axes three routes, offers refunds

Delta Air Lines axes three routes, offers refunds

  

With jet fuel prices continuing to sit at decades-old highs over the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, almost every airline has reworked its network to optimize high-traffic routes and cut any underperforming ones.

United Airlines and American Airlines both trimmed approximately 5% of their flight capacity for the rest of the year with the latter airline making significant cuts out of hubs in LAX and Charlotte Douglas International (CLT).

Delta Air Lines also cut its total capacity by 3.5% earlier this spring while continuing to make further reductions into the summer; the latest cancelations confirmed by the airline are three flights from New York’s JFK to the Deep South and Texas.

Delta Air Lines to not bring back planned flights to Houston, Memphis and St. Louis

The flights, which were initially put on temporary pause for the summer with plans to resume them in September, included routes from JFK to Memphis International (MEM), St. Louis Lambert International (STL) and George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) in Houston.

As first reported by The Points Guy, Delta confirmed that the flights will be permanently discontinued in what the carrier classified as “part of our routine network planning.” With Delta also flying to the same cities from the city’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), the double frequencies out of New York relied on heavy summer demand that ended up being an obvious choice when cuts needed to be made.

Related: Another airline cuts U.S. flights due to low demand

With the cuts, JetBlue Airways will be the only airline flying to Houston from JFK while airlines such as United and Southwest also fly from either Newark Liberty (EWR) or LGA.

Flights to the three cities have not been available for sale on the Delta website since June but, in the case that someone still has a valid ticket for some point in the future, the airline said that it will individually contact affected travelers with refund options.

Delta will continue to fly to St. Louis from New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

Shutterstock-Mihai_Andritoiu

“We will contact affected customers directly”: Delta on refunds for canceled flights

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will contact affected customers directly to discuss alternative travel options,” the Delta spokesperson said to The Points Guy.

Alongside with the cancelations, Delta also announced that it will launch a new nonstop flight to Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers from Raleigh-Durham International (RSW). The smaller city in southwestern Florida has over the last few years been getting tapped by several different airlines for route expansion given rising travel interest.

More Travel News:

The new flight will kick off the winter sun-seeking season with a Nov. 21 launch and run on a Bombardier CRJ-900 regional jet with room for 76 passengers. This route was run by Delta prior to 2020 but was cut as part of network optimization even before travel numbers dropped during the covid-19 pandemic.

With a flight to Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) also debuting on Nov. 21, Delta will end up running a total of 10 flights to Fort Myers from various U.S. cities by 2027.

Related: JetBlue Airways exits entire market

   

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