Delta cutting sixth flight to Las Vegas

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Delta Air Lines said a sixth flight to Las Vegas would be discontinued early next year, but that all six of them would be restored by May.

A spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta said last week that the six "red-eye" flights that the airline is cutting would be put back in service as soon as contract negotiations are completed with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Delta, the fourth-busiest air carrier serving McCarran International Airport, said Wednesday it planned to discontinue five of its 27 daily round-trip flights from Las Vegas. Non-stop flights between Las Vegas and New Orleans, Boston, Tampa and Orlando, Fla., and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, would be discontinued in January and February, the airline said.

On Thursday, one of the airline's late-night flights to and from Atlanta also was put on the list. Delta has four other daily flights between Las Vegas and Atlanta. It said it would continue to serve the other cities from Las Vegas with connecting flights and that passengers holding tickets on the nonstop flights would be reassigned.

"We're trying to minimize the impact of the pilots' actions by preplanning some cancellations," said Delta spokeswoman Jackie Pate. "We looked at where we could best protect our customers and have the least customer impact."

Delta has been troubled by pilots who refuse to work overtime and has even gone to court to force pilots to maintain "status quo" until contract differences could be resolved.

But a federal judge refused to force the pilots to work overtime. Delta has appealed and the case is pending.

Delta discontinued late-night flights because they are the most susceptible to overtime cancellations, since they're usually the last operation of the day.

For Las Vegas, late-night operations are commonplace. America West Airlines and Delta have built "utilization flying" into their schedules, using a plane that would be parked to make one last trip to Las Vegas, where graveyard shifts are more the norm.

Pate said because Delta considers the discontinuation of flights a temporary measure, there would be no reduction in staffing at Delta's McCarran station.

Pate said the flights between Las Vegas and Atlanta, New Orleans, New York and Tampa would be discontinued in January. The Orlando and Boston flights would be discontinued in February. But the Orlando flights would be reinstated in March to meet increased demand between the resort cities during traditional spring breaks.

That means from a capacity of 5,246 seats a day going into Las Vegas on Delta, there would be a reduction to 4,127 a day in February, the lowest capacity month.

Flights to and from the other five cities, Pate said, would be reinstated as soon as a deal is struck with ALPA, probably by May.

But an expert who follows the airline industry isn't so sure.

"I don't think they're going to be reinstated," said Mike Boyd of the Evergreen, Colo.-based Boyd Group, an aviation consultant.

"That's the least lucrative traffic for Delta," he said. "If they were really profitable, they wouldn't have cut them."

Boyd said it's possible that Southwest Airlines would step up service to take advantage of Delta's lull, since it already flies to New Orleans and the Florida markets.

Sam Buttrick, an airline analyst with UBS Warburg, New York, said while Delta's tinkering with the schedule could have a short-term impact on Las Vegas and the tourism industry with a capacity loss of about 900 seats a day, other events could cause a bigger impact.

"Delta may cause a short-term reduction, but clearly the largest question relating to Las Vegas air service is National Airline's ability to sustain operations," Buttrick said.

National, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month, has flown about 802,000 passengers between January and October, making it the sixth-busiest carrier at McCarran. It currently averages 27 flights a day from McCarran, 6.3 percent of the airport's daily flights and has 7.5 percent of the market share of the number of available seats.

Delta is the No. 4 airline at McCarran behind Southwest, America West and United Airlines, carrying 1.2 million passengers between January and October. In December, it has about 5,188 available seats coming into the market. It has had 6.2 percent of the commercial flights to McCarran and has an 8.2 percent market share of the number of available seats.