U.S. airlines have officially been granted the right to suspend service to a total of 62 airports on the basis of reduced demand. Last month, I provided a list of destinations that the U.S. Department of Transportation provisionally approved for airline service suspensions. Despite numerous objections, the provisional approval is now a final approval.
Note: Airlines Will Not Necessarily Suspend Service…
Do note at the outset that although airlines now have the right to immediately terminate service to the destinations below through the end of September, that does not necessarily mean that they will. Although it seems far-fetched the airlines were engaging in poker with one another in bluffing service cuts, until you receive an actual cancellation notice from your carrier, the list below is merely a list. But it should give you an indication of whether your carrier is likely to cancel service, perhaps even at the very-last minute.
Objections Overlooked By DOT
In noting its final order (.pdf) on adjustments to service obligations, the DOT recapped several objections it received from citizens, local governments, and port authorities. In all cases, it declined to modify its initial grant of service exemptions.
Consistent with our commitment in the Notice, these points will continue to receive air service from other Covered Carriers, ensuring that they retain air service through at least September 30, 2020.
The Full List Of Approved Airline Suspensions
Here is the final list of approved airline suspensions organized by airline:
Alaska Airlines Suspensions
- Charleston, SC – (CHS)
- Columbus, OH – (CMH)
- El Paso, TX – (ELP)
- New Orleans, LA – (MSY)
- San Antonio, TX – (SAT)
Allegiant Air Suspensions
- New Orleans, LA – (MSY)
- Ogdensburg, NY – (OGS)
- Palm Springs, CA – (PSP)
- San Antonio, TX – (SAT)
- Springfield, IL – (SPI)
- Tucson, AZ – (TUS)
American Airlines Suspensions
- Aspen, CO – (ASE)
- Eagle, CO – (EGE)
- Montrose, CO – (MTJ)
- Worcester, MA – (ORH)
Note that American Airlines also abruptly ended service to Oakland (OAK) this week, but that was under a different exemption that allows airlines to suspend service to airports within a metropolis already served. American Airlines continues to serve San Francisco (SFO) and San Jose (SJC) in the Bay Area.
Cape Air Suspensions
- Portland, ME – (PWM)
Corvus Airlines / Era Aviation / Ravn Alaska Suspensions
- Goodnews Bay, AK – (GNU)
- Kodiak, AK – (ADQ)
- Napakiak, AK – (WNA)
- Napaskiak, AK – (PKA)
- Platinum, AK – (PTU)
Delta Air Lines Suspensions
- Aspen, CO – (ASE)
- Bangor, ME – (BGR)
- Erie, PA – (ERI)
- Flint, MI – (FNT)
- Fort Smith, AR – (FSM)
- Lincoln, NE – (LNK)
- New Bern/Morehead/Beaufort, NC – (EWN)
- Peoria, IL – (PIA)
- Santa Barbara, CA – (SBA)
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA – (AVP)
- Williston, ND – (XWA)
Elite Airways Suspensions
- Sarasota/Bradenton, FL – (SRQ)
Frontier Airlines Suspensions
- Greenville/Spartanburg, SC – (GSP)
- Mobile, AL – (MOB)
- Palm Springs, CA – (PSP)
- Portland, ME – (PWM)
- Tyler, TX – (TYR)
JetBlue Airways Suspensions
- Albuquerque, NM – (ABQ)
- Palm Springs, CA – (PSP)
- Sacramento, CA – (SMF)
- Sarasota/Bradenton, FL – (SRQ)
- Worcester, MA – (ORH)
Seaborne Virgin Islands Suspensions
- St. Thomas, VI – (STT)
- St. Croix, VI – (STX)
- Culebra, PR – (CPX)
- San Juan, PR – (SJU)
- Vieques, PR – (VQS)
Silver Airways Suspensions
- St. Thomas, VI – (STT)
- Huntsville, AL – (HSV)
- Key West, FL – (EYW)
- Tallahassee, FL – (TLH)
- Tampa, FL – (TPA)
Spirit Airlines Suspensions
- Asheville, NC – (AVL)
- St. Thomas, VI – (STT)
- St. Croix, VI – (STX)
- Greensboro/High Point, NC – (GSO)
- Plattsburgh, NY – (PBG)
Sun Air Express Suspensions
- Nashville, TN – (BNA)
Sun Country Airlines Suspensions
- Madison, WI – (MSN)
- Philadelphia, PA – (PHL)
- Portland, OR – (PDX)
- Sacramento, CA – (SMF)
- St. Louis, MO – (STL)
United Airlines Suspensions
- Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, PA – (ABE)
- St. Thomas, VI – (STT)
- Chattanooga, TN – (CHA)
- Fairbanks, AK – (FAI)
- Hilton Head, SC – (HHH)
- Ithaca/Cortland, NY – (ITH)
- Kalamazoo, MI – (AZO)
- Key West, FL – (EYW)
- Lansing, MI – (LAN)
- Myrtle Beach, SC – (MYR)
- Rochester, MN – (RST)
CONCLUSION
Hopefully carriers do the right thing and cancel quickly, if they will cancel. Thousands of passengers are now uncertain about their upcoming travel plans and nothing is worse than a last-minute cancellation. But do note the list…it is now final and represents likely service cuts in the days and weeks ahead.
And kudos for Southwest Airlines for not seeking permission to cut service from a single city.
SAT has incurred a massive amount of route cuts. I’m an IAH based flyer but spend a lot of time in SA. Nonstop options are pretty much down to DFW, IAH, PHX, ORD, SLC, DEN, LAS and that’s it. For a metro size of 2 million that’s hard to believe. No more offers to LAX or SFO. Anytime I flew from SA to LAX or SFO it was a full flight too.
Hopefully that service will come back later in the summer or this fall.
SAT, even with recent increased service, was a laggard behind AUS, so it’s not surprising that it has become just an out station to nearby fortress hubs. I’m sure it was completely uneconomical for AS to continue service to SEA via ABQ due to CARES Act requirements, so expect that to go away imminently. (Yes there was an SAT-ABQ flight today)
Don’t know if this was mentioned in particular recently, but Sun Country dropping PDX seems to be a big deal…had’t they just started several routes from there? Their guy in charge of routes is from AS so I thought they were about to try and exploit any weaknesses AS has there.
They probably realized it was a more difficult market than they had imagined…
Was there any effort to keep service at certain airports? For no particular reason, I noted that both American and Delta pulled out of Aspen but United did not. Would United pull out of there if given the chance? I’m sure there was a lot of dirty politics that went into this.
The smallest markets, which generally have insufficient air traffic demand right now, also have airports not well-equipped to handle 737 equipment… the only equipment Southwest has flown (or wanted to fly) for many years. They wouldn’t be flying to/from those small airports in the first place without first having compatible planes, so it’s no suprise that Southwest currently has no markets that would need abandoning instead of just a reduction in service.
our article notes through September, do you think they will apply to continue or ramp up as demand may rise again with countries opening up?
Hopefully these flights resume in September, but too early to tell.