The Ithaca Journal reports that Delta Airlines is cutting all service to Binghamton, New York. The county was informed that service would end September 6th, surprising airport officials. Boardings are up 43 percent so far this year and Delta had just started service to Kennedy Airport. Flights to Atlanta and Kennedy have been running mostly full. When the JFK service launched, company and county officials had said it was because the airport, and Delta itself, were doing well. But a spokesman described the JFK flights as a last-ditch attempt at improving performance here. County officials claim that with reduced domestic capacity, Delta has set the performance bar too high for many smaller airports. The decision was also blasted by New York Senators Schumer and Clinton. The airport is talking to its other carriers: United, Northwest, and US Airways to see if service gaps could be filled.
The same day, September 6th, Delta will add weekday nonstop service from Hunstville, Alabama to LaGuardia, operated by Comair using a 50-seater CRJ. Service will be operated as a businessman’s special…with an early morning departure to New York, returning in late evening.
Beginning September 5th, US Airways will add nonstop service from Harrisburg, PA to LaGuardia with three roundtrips each weekday and reduced schedules on weekends. Service will be operated by Colgan Air using 34-seat Saab 340 turboprops.
Northwest plans to sell nine of its sixty-five Airbus 319 jets, and will likely be replaced by the new 76-seat seat regional jets they have just started receiving. These jets, flown by regional subsidiaries, can be operated by pilots making lower salaries. The unions find the sale objectionable, as do we at a time when Northwest could be shedding its ancient DC-9s.
An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to New York on Thursday after the crew reported a suspicious passenger in what was deemed a misunderstanding. The passenger was an employee who used an employee bus to get on the plane for the flight. The flight was canceled and passengers rebooked on other flights.