Delta and United are dropping service to more cities as the trend of leaving regional airports behind continues

Bianca Giacobone
Updated ·2 min read
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  • Delta will no longer fly to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and State College, Pennsylvania effective 5 June.

  • United will no longer fly to Erie, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Illinois, starting 31 May.

  • The two airlines have collectively dropped 55 regional airports since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are suspending service to four regional airports between them, continuing the trend of abandoning regional markets.

Effective June 5, Delta will no longer fly to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and State College, Pennsylvania, a spokesperson told Insider, adding that the suspension is temporary.

United will stop serving Erie, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Illinois starting 2 June, according to a spokesperson.

"Delta continues to evaluate the regional market, monitoring regional carrier pilot availability and customer demand. Affected customers will be proactively notified by Delta and re-accommodated accordingly," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.

"We are proactively reaching out to impacted customers to discuss their options," a United spokesperson said in a statement, adding the schedule changes are primarily caused by pilot shortages.

After Delta pulls out, La Crosse Regional Airport will still be connected to Chicago by American Airlines. Delta offered service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, which is a two-and-a-half-hour drive away, and Detroit Metro Airport. Rochester, Wisconsin's airport is a one-hour drive from the city.

University Park Airport, in State College, Pennsylvania, will still be connected to Philadelphia International Airport, Newark International, and Chicago O'Hare International Airport by both United and America. Delta's recently slashed offering included daily flights to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The nearest airport, Harrisburg, is one and a half hours away driving, and it offers Delta connections to Atlanta and Detroit.

Erie Pennsylvania will still have American connecting it to Charlotte, North Carolina, but it will lose its United connection to Chicago. Passengers at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, Illinois, will keep their connection to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas via American until June 1 at which point it will switch to Chicago. The direct flight to Florida through Allegiant Air also remains.

The four airports are the latest in a long list of regional airports that were abandoned by major airlines as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines have blamed poor performance and staffing shortages for the cuts.

Including the airports cited above, Delta has dropped 17 regional destinations and United 38 regional destinations since the beginning of the pandemic.

Read the original article on Business Insider