Some Are Only A Couple Hundred Miles Apart

There's been a fair amount of concern in places like Salt Lake City and Cincinnati over whether Delta Air Lines will keep all its hubs in operation, or trim a few now that it's combining operations with Northwest Airlines. It appears that, at least for now, all seven of the airline's domestic hubs are safe.

The Detroit Free Press reports Delta president Ed Bastian has promised Delta will keep all its existing hubs, as well as the new ones its getting through the Northwest acquisition, in operation. Besides the two already mentioned, the others are Detroit, Atlanta, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and New York JFK.

Detroit is the airline's second-largest hub, and industry observers have questioned whether keeping all seven makes sense. "Yes it does," Bastian told the Free Press this week. "And the reason for that is we've already paid for them; they are ours.

"If you started an airline from scratch, would you put a hub in Cincinnati and Detroit and Minneapolis and Memphis? No, you wouldn't," he added. "But the reality is that they are there." Bastian added that both Cincinnati and Detroit are home to big corporate accounts.

But keeping all its hubs doesn't mean the combined airline will keep all its flights. Delta has announced it will cut 12 percent of its flights from Cincinnati starting in January, and drop two nonstop flights from Detroit, to Osaka, Japan and Paris, France.

On the plus side, Bastian said Delta expects to add service from Detroit to Shanghai, China, in March, and may add flights to Latin America in the future. The airlines has said it wants international flights to make up half its routes by 2010.

Bastian added the company has cut capacity by 15 percent, is well positioned to weather slowing demand, and expects to be profitable in 2009.

FMI: www.delta.com