Delta Airlines announced on Tuesday that it will be dropping its hub in Memphis, Tennessee, in the fall, eliminating 230 jobs, according to the Associated Press. The cuts will begin on September 3, after Labor Day and the busy summer travel season.
This outcome was a concern for small hubs like Memphis, as well as Cincinnati and Salt Lake City, when Delta purchased Northwest Airlines five years ago. Memphis was used as a hub for Northwest, meaning that passengers would have layovers there when traveling to destinations such as Miami or New York. Flying from a hub city allows passengers more access to direct flights, as well as a larger choice of destinations.
In June 2009, Delta was flying up to 240 flights per day from Memphis, including a flight to Amsterdam. It now only offers approximately 96 flights per day, and that number will drop lower, to only 60, in the fall.
Delta executives stated that no hubs would be closed when they bought Northwest in 2008. The possible closures were a major topic of Congressional hearings regarding the merger.
Northwest executives said their Memphis flights made money. However, Memphis was already believed to have been on its way out as a hub for Delta. Atlanta, which is Delta's main hub, is located only 370 miles away, and the city's Hartsfield-Jackson International airport is the world's busiest airport, making Memphis less necessary.
Demand has fallen and fuel prices are persistently high, making the Memphis hub unprofitable, according to Delta spokesman Anthony Black, who spoke to the Associated Press on Tuesday. There's only enough demand for 50-seat regional jets on most routes and Delta plans to phase those out.
"Delta continually reviews the viability of all markets and there are no other significant changes planned at this time," Black said.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a democrat from Tennessee, is upset by Delta's decision. Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, told Congress that the merger of Delta and Northwest would not impact flights in and out of Memphis and had hinted at the possibility of a Paris flight.
"He said then that the merger was about addition, not subtraction," Cohen said. He has reached out to the justice department "to discuss the growing evidence that Delta is violating the promises made to the Department when seeking antitrust immunity for their merger."
The upcoming job cuts will focus on customer service and cargo workers. A memo issued on Tuesday said that Delta will offer buyouts to some workers, and that there are other jobs available for those who remain at the company.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
