FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Cities that have lost mainline service
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Old Jul 22, 2009, 3:32 pm
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mersk862
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Originally Posted by FlytheTail
In the past few months, with cuts in flights and retirements of DC-9s, a lot of cities that I fly have lost (or will soon lose) mainline service. For example:
LAN - only CRJ-200s to DTW and MSP -- no more first class
FNT - only CRJ-200s and Saabs to DTW and MSP, CR7s to ATL -- no more first class
AZO - only CRJ-200s and Saabs to DTW and MSP -- no more first class
MBS - only CRJ-200s to DTW and MSP - no more first class

The loss of mainline service, upgrade opportunities, and having to fly these dreaded CRJs is really unfortunate. I understand capacity cuts are needed, but where are all the mainline aircraft going? What other cities have lost, or will soon be losing, mainline service? Have any cities gained mainline service recently?
Mainline service is going down, as a lot of the fleet cuts happening this year will be DC-9-30/40s and the 5500-series 757s from the NW side (I think the DL side is losing some MD-80s and older 757s, plus 767-300s).

Unfortunately, the DC-9 was more or less the perfect plane for many of those under-250 mile hops from MSP/DTW to cities in the midwest - right amount of capacity, DC-9 built to take a beating from those up-and-down runs, etc. Now that those 100/100 seaters are going down, as well as 757s, you have A320s being shifted onto those 757 routes, with A319s filling those A320s, with the remaining -9s filling those A319s. That leaves CRJs, and the ALPA agreement only allows so many 76-seat regional jets. Wasn't as much of a problem pre-merger, but with the merger, those planes need to be spread out, and DL wants to use them in JFK/ATL/SLC as well. Given those constraints, some routes are falling to CRJs.

Yeah, they're annoying, but an aisle seat in the front of them is tolerable for a 30 minute flight. MSP and DTW don't have so much traffic (a la ATL/JFK) where it's going to be 30 minutes of taxi time before the flight - it's often no more than 5-10 minutes of taxi time at MSP/DTW for me, add 5-10 minutes or so if deicing is necessary. Tolerable enough in a CRJ, especially as there's no real need to pre-board as bags get pink-tagged.
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