Delta Air Lines flies planes to 275 different destinations and has more than 4,000 daily departures, according to the airline’s website.
Unfortunately, daily departures to one major airport will be ending permanently in November. The flight had not been a very popular one, and the airline decided to end the flight to better align with customer demand.
Still, it will leave passengers who are used to traveling to this key airport with far fewer options, since the flights previously left daily.
And as PennLive indicated when reporting on the story, the change “severs a key connection and is officially Delta’s full retreat from the region.”
According to PennLive, Delta Air Lines is permanently shutting down service at Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF) in Midland, Texas, beginning in November.
Delta has been flying three daily flights between MAF and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) since launching the route last year.
Unfortunately, some passengers are very upset about the fact that Delta is ending these flights.
One Reddit user responded, “Oh no!!!!!!! I am not brand loyal to any airlines. I view it as a commodity and what’s the best (cheapest) way to get from point A to point B. Have randomly flown Delta twice this year for both of my trips that involved flying.”
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Another poster said that while the flights were at inconvenient times, the Redditor found that it made getting to other locations more accessible. “I liked that it opened up a lot of other destinations in theory.”
Penn Live explained why Delta Air Lines is dropping the flight, and the reasoning makes a lot of sense.
Data from the Department of Transportation showed the load factors on the MAF to Austin-Bergstrom flights were below 60%, which is the level that’s needed to sustain the route.
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It’s also possible that Delta Air Lines never intended to keep the flight long-term and ran it simply to preserve its access to gates at Austin Airport.
Delta will, in fact, be launching some new routes from Austin starting in December, including to Cancun and Cabo San Lucas.
While Delta Air Lines may have its reasons for discontinuing the daily flights from MAF, officials at the airport aren’t thrilled about the change.