The latest schedules now planned for January have been cut so severely it’s leaving Tucsonans with fewer options than in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There will be an average of 87,890 available seats per week coming in and going out of Tucson in January, that’s 6,684 - or 3.9 percent - fewer than in January 2002.
It’s also down almost 25 percent from the 116,724 average weekly seats that were available at the start of this year.
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Here’s a rundown:
Charlotte flights canceled
After seven months, US Airways will eliminate daily non-stop flights between Tucson and its east coast hub at Charlotte effective Jan. 5. At the time the flights were started June 3, US Airways boasted it was proud to start the new service bringing first-time one-stop connections to destinations in the Caribbean as well to other destinations along the East Coast and to Europe.
The irony is the flights were popular, with 85 percent of the available seats sold in June. But a US Airways official said that in these days of high fuel prices, it isn’t efficient, on a cost-per-mile basis, to operate such long-distance flights.
The elimination of the Charlotte service, along with last month’s elimination of flights to Las Vegas, means US Airways’ sole non-stop destination from Tucson will be Phoenix, which it will serve with 10 round-trips a day, all on regional jets.
2nd Seattle flight dropped
Alaska Airlines, which had been avoiding most of the talk of cutbacks, this month joined in, saying it would reduce capacity by 8 percent and eliminate as many as 1,000 jobs. The airline’s second daily round-trip between Tucson and Seattle, which started June 8, was taken off the schedule this month.
There are no employee cutbacks to be had at Tucson since Alaska contracts with Delta to handle its flights here.
Hermosillo down to 4x weekly
After upgrading its Tucson service to all regional jets in July, Aeroméxico Connect has reduced its schedule to Hermosillo, Sonora, from daily service to four times per week - Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The silver lining is that the Aeroméxico Connect flight now goes direct to Guadalajara, Jalisco, without a change of plane. That should help economic development officials of both cities, who last month signed a cooperative agreement to promote development between the two cities.
The flights leave Tucson at 1:35 p.m., stop in Hermosillo for Mexican customs, and arrive in Guadalajara at 8:20 p.m. The return trip is scheduled to leave Guadalajara at 9:45 a.m. and, after a stop in Hermosillo, arrive back in Tucson at 11:40 a.m. The Tucson times change to an hour later effective Nov. 2 with the end of Daylight Saving Time.
Midway flight cut for a month
In these days when it costs an airline less to park a plane and pay the finance charges than it does to fly it without enough seats sold, Southwest Airlines has decided to do just that, by eliminating 190 flights in January.
While some of the cuts are permanent, the one affecting Tucson is not. From Jan. 11 through Feb. 14, Southwest is dropping one of its two daily round-trips to Chicago Midway Airport.
Besides saving money, Southwest said the cuts will allow it to have more aircraft to use as standby planes when bad weather hits.
Up the road in Phoenix, Southwest is cutting 12 flights in January, all permanently, including its non-stop flight to Birmingham, Ala. It will also eliminate one flight a day from Phoenix to Los Angeles, St. Louis, Tulsa, Baltimore, Burbank, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Houston, El Paso, Oakland, and Oklahoma City.
Delta brings changes to Atlanta, Salt Lake City
As of Oct. 1, Delta is making changes to eliminate one of its four round-trips to Salt Lake City and begin switching over to smaller - but still full-sized airliners - on flights to Atlanta.
Delta has been using 184-passenger Boeing 757s on its two daily flights to Atlanta but will start using a 160-passenger Boeing 737-800 for one flight effective Oct. 1, then switch the second flight effective Nov. 2.
The reduced schedule of three daily round-trips to Salt Lake City will use Delta Connection regional jets.
Smaller planes to Houston
Continental Airlines continues to pare its Tucson schedule, which now amounts only to four non-stop flights per day to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. On some days one of those flights will use a full-size Boeing 737 but other days they will all be on regional jets.
No word on Dulles flight
United Airlines says it is still evaluating whether to reinstate its seasonal flights to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Two years ago, the flights started on Halloween, this year they started on Valentine’s Day. Both years, the flights operated into early June.
Otherwise, it can be taken as a positive that as United pursues its announced plan to get rid of its Boeing 737s, the one Tucson flight that had been using the older, less fuel-efficient planes is now being flown using an Airbus A320.
More to Minneapolis
There will be more seats to Minneapolis-St. Paul in December. Northwest Airlines has scheduled a second daily round-trip to start Dec. 18. And, for a second year, Sun Country is scheduled to return with seasonal service from Dec. 17 to April 15. This year, Sun Country will operate flights three days a week, up from two days a week last year.
More to Dallas-Fort Worth
American Airlines, which is reducing its system-wide schedule by 8 percent by the end of this year, will resume an eighth daily round-trip from Tucson to its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth, as of Nov. 3.
Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237. Inside Business Travel appears the fourth week of each month.
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