fdex727

After checking the new schedule which goes into effect in September, it appears GSO is losing the mainline service just in time for furniture market. I not really surprised but it is big news considering like many other station we once had 12 mainliners a day to just to ATL with 757's coming in for furniture market. The largest a/c I can find so far is the CR7 3x day.

I guess this really is the new Delta.

DLdweeb

A real shame, though not totally unexpected. I wonder what will happen to the ground staff if this is not seasonal. I think those folks are DL employees.

StayingHomeIsBetter

DL is going to continue until the only domestic mainline flights they run will be to/from ATL or JFK and destinations west of the Rockies.

Where are they finding all of these RJs and the highly qualified 20 year olds needed to fly them?

The new DL... the worlds largest network, flying the world's smallest planes.

OHDL1

>>> Where are they finding all of these RJs and the highly qualified 20 year olds needed to fly them? <<<

By cutting frequencies to other cities??

StayingHomeIsBetter

The new DL... the worlds largest network, flying the world's smallest planes, once per day per destination.

mersk862

I don't think this is the first time that GSO has lost mainline (though I'm sure SkyTeam777 will correct me) - seems like its been all-RJs a couple of times.

Wouldn't shock me to see some MDs and 737s return later in the winter.

DLdweeb

Indeed I believe it has been all RJ for at least a few months. Hopefully mainline will return at some point.

At this rate, they'll have to dust off the Brasilias that are being stored somewhere. They were always a fun ride to ATL.

Seriously, I know all airlines are in a world of hurt. DL especially so, since I suspect this merger is costing them money right now, not saving any. So I'm willing to cut them some slack.

At least the north terminal in GSO still has mainline aircraft, as I believe Allegiant has moved its operations to an old Skybus gate. Nice to see a mad dog parked there every now and then.

mersk862

To think that nearly five years ago, I moved to GSO, where I had the option of about 8x MD-88 to ATL (plus a couple of CRJs), an MD-88 to CVG (plus 4-5 more CRJs), plus 3x CRJ to LGA, 2x CRJ to MCO and 2x CRJ to DFW.

Wow it's changed in the past 5 years...Unfortunate.

RustyC

Heck, anyone remember back around 1994-ish with Continental Lite? That thing turned GSO into a mini-hub overnight. CO tried to do the airline-within-and-airline thing with single-class cabins and drinks poured out of 2-liter bottles and flights to lots of places to and from GSO.

It sure didn't last. But CO's later practice of putting RJs on seemingly as many routes as possible sure got imitated. As others point out, it's not so much about the capacities or facilities as the crew pay. It also leaves an opening for all-jet LCCs to grab market share. It's amazing sometimes how the LCCs can grow the pie in places the big airlines treat as dinky.

3Cforme

It may mean less convenience for GSO flyers, but every major U.S. carrier has surplus planes and crews: if there were money to be made flying to GSO, they could do it.

Herb687

Have the furniture market trade shows in GSO historically been lucrative DB opportunities? Wonder if less capacity this year could make for a good "bump run."

mersk862

I would often fly during furniture market (that coincided with my fall break at least three years while I was at Wake) and only got a bump once - on the last ATL-GSO of the evening (and furniture market was winding down by that point).

Keep in mind that the furniture market shows have been steadily declining in size the past 5-7 years.

keeton

What kept those 12x day mainline jets busy was AirTran down a couple of gates. With low fares, there was a lot more traffic.

With AirTran and the other LCCs out of the way, GSO is now an expensive market so demand drops.

SkyTeam777

This is terrible news...Ive been waiting for this to happen for some time. Im shocked though, I really am. They have boosted our frequencies a bit, but Im sure those will get pulled too.

This is the first time that DL has lost mainline from the schedules. Yes, on some days of the week (Saturdays mainly) there were all RJs, but this is the first time there has been no mainline on the schedule at all.

I, too, am very interested to hear what will happen to the ground staff. When I saw CAE go all RJ a few weeks ago, I knew the end was in sight. How common is it for DL to bring mainline back after pulling it.

And fdex727, since you work at the airport, do you know if this is a long-term change? They pulled MSP, reduced MEM, left DTW all RJs. Any sense of what the station manager is thinking? Ive met him a few times and am just so sad at how the station has been stripped of everything.

Edited: Just looked at the schedule, looks like they dropped the 12x frequency to 10x with CR7s being the biggest. Why would they cut access to any FC cabin. I just dont get it...it pushes premium traffic away when they do that. Why not at least one CR9??

SkyTeam777

WOW, and GSO-DTW is now 2x on the CRJ (down from x4 some months); MEM is x1 (down from x3); MSP gone of course.


I guess DL would rather people drive to Raleigh and Charlotte to pay half the price to fly the same routes than make a premium selling the flights from GSO. I really am hoping this is just because of the economic situation and DL will restore its faith in this and many other medium-sized Southern markets soon.