Relief For Passengers Gouged At CVG?

Delta has some welcome news for passengers flying out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Covington, KY (CVG)... the airline has sharply reduced fares on many routes originating there.

For some time, CVG has had a rather unwelcome reputation... as one of the most expensive US airports to fly from, based on average air fares. In fact, according to the most recent Department of Transportation statistics, CVG was the priciest US airport for airfares through Q3 of last year.

It's not really hard to see why that's the case. CVG isn't a particularly large airport, and it serves a medium-size city... but the airport is also a significant "hub" for Delta Air Lines, which maintains a near-monopoly on traffic there. For years, Delta has been accused of jacking up air fares at CVG because... well, it could.

Delta's presence at CVG has only grown with the airline's recent acquisition of Northwest... but the airline has also cut domestic capacity throughout its network, hitting CVG particularly hard. The combination of fewer travel choices and still-higher fares has left many customers rather disgruntled, to the point of driving more than 100 miles from CVG to alternate, and cheaper, airports.

Hoping to ease the sting, Delta announced Friday it has lowered business and leisure fares in domestic markets served out of CVG, which the carrier says should reduce fare for over 80 percent of customers flying to or from Cincinnati on advance-purchase airfares.

"Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky is the airport of choice for customers across the Tri-State Region and these new fares make it compelling for customers to choose the convenience of flying nonstop to more than 90 worldwide destinations from Delta’s Cincinnati hub rather than wasting time and money driving to neighboring airports," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s executive vice president – Network Planning and Revenue Management.

Among the more notable price cuts is a 56 percent drop in one-way airfare to Charleston, SC, at $82; and a 58 percent drop in one-way fares from CVG to Los Angeles International.

Delta stressed the new pricing is "not a sale," and applies to both leisure and business travel. "In addition to reductions on the lowest available fares, customers also will see reductions on other advance purchase and walk-up fares," the carrier added.

Despite recent cuts, Delta notes the CVG hub offers customers more than 270 peak-day departures to more than 90 nonstop destinations, including flights to three trans-Atlantic destinations -- London-Gatwick, Paris and Frankfurt.

FMI: www.delta.com