Airport Check-in: Delta lowers airfares at Cincinnati airport
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Following years of complaints from customers and local business leaders, Delta is lowering ticket prices at its Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky hub.
Delta's cuts at the nation's most expensive airport will range from 5% to 60%, and are effective immediately for all types of fares. About 80% of the airport's customers would benefit from lower prices, the airline says.
The lack of competition at Cincinnati, where about 90% of the flights are operated by Delta, has driven fares higher at the airport for years, and many residents drive to nearby airports to get cheaper flights. Its average fare was nearly $600 in the third quarter of 2008, compared with the national average of $362.
Delta cut fares to keep customers at its hub rather than see them "wasting time and money driving to neighboring airports," says Glen Hauenstein, a Delta executive, in a statement.
Some samples of one-way ticket reductions, based on a 21-day advance purchase: down 43% for Seattle (to $173 from $305); down 53% for St. Louis (to $84 from $180); and down 58% for Los Angeles (to $130 from $310).
Check out an art exhibit at Nashville International that showcases paintings, sculptures and masks by the Lost Boys of Sudan who now live in the city. The Lost Boys of Sudan are more than 27,000 boys who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Many of them relocated to the USA.
The exhibit, which is in Concourse A, is sponsored by The Lost Boys Foundation of Nashville, a non-profit organization founded by Jack Spencer, a Nashville photographer. It funds an art gallery for the Lost Boys to gather, learn a trade and express creativity.
The wait time at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson's security checkpoints is down to less than 10 minutes, the airport says.
In October 2008, the world's busiest airport opened 10 more checkpoint lanes, bringing the total to 32. The airport says its goal for the $26 million investment was to reduce screening wait time to less than 20 minutes during peak times and less than 10 minutes during off-peak hours.
In the first 100 days of operation, there were only five instances when the wait times for passengers reached 20 minutes, compared with 160 instances in the same period the previous year, according to the airport.
Delta plans to close about 170 gates at airports nationwide this year as part of its integration with Northwest Airlines. The two airlines, which merged last year, will save millions of dollars in rents by giving up the gates.
Northwest gates will be closed or converted into Delta gates at airports where Delta has a larger presence. Delta gates will close or become Northwest gates at airports where Northwest is the dominant player, such as Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul. But Delta signs will be used at all consolidated gates.
ROUTE NEWS
AirTran Airways will ramp up its service at Milwaukee Mitchell by more than 40% with new and expanded service.
In May, the airline will begin daily non-stop flights to four new destinations: Branson, Mo.; St. Louis; Minneapolis; and Denver (seasonal service). The additional flights will give AirTran a total of 30 daily departures at the airport.
"We see enormous potential in Milwaukee, and this increase in service underscores our commitment to growth in the market," says Tad Hutcheson, an AirTran marketing executive.
AirTran will also add flights to Los Angeles, Boston, Tampa, San Francisco and Seattle.
Every Monday, we report on the latest news in airports across the USA. See something noteworthy in your travels? E-mail your suggestions to ryu@usatoday.com.
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