Delta may end air service to 4 Iowa communities

Delta Airlines may end money-losing flights to 24 primarily Midwestern communities, including four in Iowa, as it looks to eliminate $14 million in annual losses and retire its Saab fleet of turboprop aircraft.

The Atlanta-based air carrier said it operates flights that on average depart with 52 percent of the seats filled, with some locations as low as 12 percent. Weak demand in some markets has led to flights occasionally operated with no passengers on board.  

Delta  receives a subsidy under the federal Essential Air Service program to help pay the cost of flying to 16 of the 24 airports.

Delta provides service to Sioux City (51 percent of the seats filled) and Waterloo (61.4 percent of the seats filled) without a federal subsidy. It receives EAS funding for flights to Fort Dodge (39.1 percent of the seats filled) and Mason City (45.9 percent of the seats filled).

Delta said it is notifying the U.S. Department of Transportation that it plans to stop serving the 24 markets. That would start a 90-day clock for the DOT to select a new carrier to begin service in the affected EAS communities.

Delta will continue to serve the affected communities through its Delta Connection partners until the DOT selects a replacement carrier and appropriate funding is available. In some cities, Delta is coordinating with other carriers to bid on the routes.

Delta said it will to continue service in some subsidized and non-subsidized markets, but the subsidy rate must be higher in order for the airline to fly larger regional jets on the routes.

""While Delta would prefer to continue serving these communities, the new reality of mounting cost pressures faced by our industry means we can no longer afford to provide this service," Delta said in a statement Friday announcing its decision.

Delta said it will offer customers booked for travel in the 24 markets alternative transportation choices or refunds.

The Essential Air Service program was created to ensure small communities continue to have access to passenger air service. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 provides that if a carrier is held to continue seervice beyond the 90-day notice period, it is entitled to receive compensation "to pay for the fully allocated actual cost to the carrier of performing the service, plus a reasonable return on investment that is at least 5 percent of operating costs."

Originally funded at $7 million, the Essential Air Service program has grown to cost taxpayers $200 million, subsidizing a dozen airline carriers in more than 100 communities.