Delta Air Lines will cease all flying to Midland, Texas, dropping their Austin – Midland route November 8.
When the airline announced new Austin flights on Friday I noted that,
- They had a total of 30 scheduled or announced routes out of Austin
- But they were promoting ‘nearly’ 30 routes
- When they announce new routes they also never announce cuts
- They’d need to get gates and planes from somewhere
- And those Texas border city flights had just been squatting gates until Delta knew what they wanted to do in Austin.
So it is no surprise at all that they’re ceasing Austin – Midland flying. That was a short regional jet flight that was cheap to operate – a cheap way to claim a scarce Austin gate, but also a flight that was still losing money.
As if to underscore just how little Delta cared actually cared about flying to Midland in the first place, they didn’t even tell the airport they were going to launch service until 48 hours before announcing it, let alone discussing any of the logistics like ticket counter space.
Delta already dropped its Austin – Harlingen, Texas flights. Those flights at least picked up migrants from the border on last minute full fare tickets. They filled some seats out of Harlingen, but were basically empty the other direction leaving Austin. That hasn’t been much of a business of late.
The striking thing about dropping Midland, Texas, then is that it must be performing even worse than their McAllen, Texas border flight which remains. Presumably that lasts until Delta has an idea for actually profitable flying at Austin’s airport.
I had asked Delta what flight they might drop to fund some of the expansion in Austin and they chose not to respond. The carrier did not want facts to get in the way of the narrative.
That’s common, of course, but Delta goes to greater lengths than others to push a story beyond the boundaries of facts. That only hurts their image rather than burnishing it the way that they hope.
Delta should fly Austin to Lubbock and Corpus Christi.
Gary from the top rope!!!
Good stuff Gary, we need to see the ugly underside of the airlines. Totally agree on the narrative Delta pushes. It’s slowly catching up with them and people travelers are catching on to their narrative BS.
Harlingen, right?
Common-use gates would prevent tactics like this.
you do realize that WN doesn’t even fly AUS-MAF every day?
and FNT is right. there are easily a half dozen other cities that make more sense including AMA.
My husband has flown this route a few times since he has an oil and gas business and we live in the Austin area. DL has better times than WN on this route, too.
@Tim Dunn — But, Tim, then Delta would have to participate in ‘Ask Me Anything’ (sorry, when I read ‘AMA’ I couldn’t help but think of Reddit… ‘too online,’ I guess.) Not too much going on in the Texas panhandle, but for cattle and oil, speaking of which, are you sure you aren’t the conservative Texas oilman with the same name (Tim Dunn)?
Well said, Gary ! Candidly, what I’d like to see is for Delta to drop the MFE flight in exchange for ORD.
I have been accused of many things but a big oilman or rancher is new
“ Those flights at least picked up migrants from the border on last minute full fare tickets.”
Illegal “migrants”(sic)?
@Tim Dunn — I know you’ve been fighting the good fight against many a troll on here, but, it was less of an ‘accusation’ and more of a playful commentary.
So, it’s all good, sir. Hoping Delta’s expansion in Texas is a success!
As Immorten Joe says to his War Boys: “You will ride eternal, shiny, and chrome!”
Soooooieeeeee!
Come on, Timmy Dunn, I’m callin’ the hogs and you came runnin’ faster than Delta fleeing Midland!
Wooooo pig soooieee — except in your case it’s more like Wooooo Tim Squat-tie!
Bless your heart, you hear that call louder than a gate agent hollerin’ ‘Final boarding for Atlanta.
1990 is less Robin and more like the glittery boy wonder who fetches Tim’s boxed wine in Delta One.
Hey 1990/Tim Dunn, nobody needs y’all’s interaction just an FYI. I know both of your egos get inflated every time you respond to each other, but most people find your back-and-worth with each other nauseating.
Roberto, baby, you said it all — Tim’s sittin’ here ridin’ Delta harder than a bull at the county fair, and not in the fun way.
1990 and me can actually discuss the topic in comparison to this newly minted fake southern belle and Roberto
None of which changes that the biggest squatting of aviation resources has been AA. UA is grabbing their gates at ORD and DL is using AA’s slots at JFK to fly more flights than the slots DL holds, per FAA regulations.
Just wonderin’ if anyone ever do studies on whether tens of thousands of gas flares around Midland-Odessa oil fields cause drought around nearby like New Mexico.. New Mexico is unusually drought of lately . There are oilfields around SE of New Mexico as an extension of Midland oilfields, too.
Writer is acting Delta did something immoral by simply trying to make best use of gates, planes and labor.
Nobody cares about your slanted opinions Tim…. But you’re too thick to figure that out. Both of y’all type out a lot of words, but it’s just air. You provide as much value to this blog as my posts, which is absolute zero.
Uhh, Midland is NOT a border town. It is a oil and gas boomtown in the Permian basin. I guess Houston is also a border town? Actually, Austin is probably closer to the border than Midland.
“The carrier did not want facts to get in the way of the narrative.”
You just described every post Tim makes.
None of which changes that the biggest squatting of aviation resources has been AA. UA is grabbing their gates at ORD and DL is using AA’s slots at JFK to fly more flights than the slots DL holds, per FAA regulations.
@Roberto & @Anita Grits — Thanks for all the attention, but there’ll be no self-censoring on this site. At least you’re adding a lot of ‘engagement’ on here.
And, Anita, as for beverages at Delta’s SkyClubs, for me, it’s all about their unlimited unsweetened iced tea. Yum. @Tim Dunn will be pleased to hear that I recently went to the somewhat new SkyClub at EWR Terminal A. Drank up.
@Tim Dunn Delta wouldn’t be able to do AMA even if they wanted to, not unless they want to pay for a jet bridge. AMA has six jet bridges and they’re all tied up with AA, UA, and WN each taking a pair. Surprisingly enough AA and UA will often have a plane parked at both their gates at the same time. With AA it’s always due to delays at DFW.
There is Gate 1 at AMA but it’ll need to be fitted with a jet bridge. It’s just a door with a doozy of a first step down to the ramp at the moment. AMA does have plenty of check-in space because check-in is still the original terminal which was built for a lot more airlines until it was downsized around 2010.
It was a matter of time before DL ceased their MAF- AUS flights. It never made sense to me when they started that route. But it certainly makes sense if they were just looking to acquire gate space at AUS. The fares for DL flights out of MAF were totally non-competitive anyway.