Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver International) have announced plans to boost their operations out of Cleveland Hopkins following a recent decision by United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) to downgrade the city's hub status with effect from May onwards.
Effective June 5, Delta says it will offer flights to Indianapolis International and Raleigh/Durham. The Indianapolis flight will operate onboard a ExpressJet Airlines (Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) CRJ700 while Raleigh/Durham will be served by an Endeavor Air (9E, Minneapolis St. Paul International) CRJ200.
For its part, Frontier intends to offer two new routes: to Seattle Tacoma International beginning June 15 and Orlando International beginning June 13. Both routes will be served with an A320-200.
In an interview with USA Today, United CEO Jeff Smisek said his airline would reduce its number of daily Cleveland flights by about 60%, while keeping most of its "mainline" Cleveland routes. United intends to axe about 70% of those flown by the company's United Express regional partners.
"Our hub in Cleveland hasn't been profitable for over a decade, and has generated tens of millions of dollars of annual losses in recent years," Smisek said. "We simply cannot continue to bear these losses."
