Delta to revamp fares at USA's most-expensive airport

— -- Delta Air Lines' top executive Tuesday said that a new fare structure is being planned for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — consistently the most expensive airport in America.

"Very shortly, we're going to be rolling out a new fare structure in Cincinnati," Delta chief executive officer Richard Anderson said in a conference call with analysts and reporters.

The statement came during discussion of Delta's $1.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, which ended in December.

Anderson would not elaborate on details of the new fare system, including when it would be implemented or how it would change local fares. He did say that new fares and other scheduling changes at Delta's Cincinnati hub will "respond to the demand environment. We don't have specifics out yet, but between our new network strategy and fare strategy, we expect to see nice improvement in Cincinnati."

He disclosed the plan while responding to questions about previous statements that Cincinnati and Detroit are the airline's two "weakest geographic areas."

Airline officials later declined to discuss the CEO's statements further, citing legal concerns about possibly disclosing future pricing plans.

"We're always evaluating our fare structure to make sure it's appropriate to the market," Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.

Local airport officials said they had not heard of any new fare plan.

Cincinnati has long had the most expensive fares in the nation. The average was about $595 for a round-trip flight in the second quarter of 2008, according to the most recent report issued by the U.S. Transportation Department.

That's mainly because of Delta's market dominance here — it handles 91% of local passengers. But the Atlanta-based airline has cut 33% of its overall flying here in the past 12 months.

High fares have angered many in the area. Airport officials this month teamed with the area's chambers of commerce and business development groups to sponsor an online travel survey to gauge local fliers' travel patterns. The survey has received nearly 12,000 responses. Today is the last day to participate, at www.cvgsurvey.com.

"As a region, we have been pushing the fare issue at every opportunity with Delta and, if nothing else, the fact that the CEO of Delta would even consider that they are thinking about Cincinnati and our fare situation means to us that they are hearing our plea for relief," said Doug Moormann, vice president of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.

The last time Delta significantly changed its fare structure was with the introduction of SimpliFares locally in August 2004 and nationally in January 2005.

That also was the last time the Cincinnati-area airport was not the nation's most expensive.

SimpliFares included lower fares, fewer fare types and a cap on fares. It was abandoned later in 2005 as Delta tried unsuccessfully to stave off bankruptcy.

Delta filed for bankruptcy in September 2005 and emerged in April 2007.

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