Delta Grants Cincinnati Fare Relief

Posted by: Justin Bachman on February 06

Here’s the kind of airline release you will not see often. Practically never, in fact. Unless, of course, you live in the Cincinnati area, a hub city for Delta Air Lines (DAL). Delta announced Feb. 6 lower fares from its Cincinnati hub, yielding to a long campaign from a region that has felt exploited by a lack of low-cost carrier competition. The airport typically leads the nation in terms of highest airfares, as compiled by the federal government. Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky (CVG) has no Southwest (LUV), AirTran (AAI) or JetBlue (JBLU) – and that deficiency has been painfully apparent for years, according to local business and Chamber of Commerce officials. Southwest flies to Columbus and Louisville, which are each only 100 miles from Cincinnati. AirTran and Frontier serve Dayton, which is even closer.

Delta says the reductions came as part of its customary review of travel patterns. “In Cincinnati, we’ve closely watched customer buying habits and found an increase in the number choosing to fly out of alternate airports in close proximity,” spokeswoman Betsy Talton wrote in an e-mail.

There’s some history here, with a similar Delta move announced in September, 2007. But let’s face facts: As long as Cincinnati fails to lure Southwest – and I have spoken in the past with airport officials who assure me they never cease trying – the airport’s basic fare structure is what it is. However, lest you think this is a minor issue, a tempest in a smaller hub, this was quickly the lead story Friday for the local newspaper’s Web site. As I’ve noted here before, the network carriers’ hubs are aviation marvels, both in terms of their revenue generation ability and the capacity to transfer us where we please in an efficient manner.