Low-Cost Airlines Eye Market Here

Having announced major flight cuts in Cincinnati, Delta Air Lines is bleeding in the water, but the low-cost sharks it fears most say they aren’t biting yet.

Cincinnati’s dominant carrier announced a 26 percent reduction in flights out of its second-largest hub here, where it controls more than 90 percent of ticket sales. Delta and industry watchers say the move is a sign of how dire finances are at the company, which has lost nearly $10 billion since 2000.

Analysts say the cuts, coupled with Delta’s financial weakness, could ultimately lead low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines, AirTran and JetBlue to enter the market.

But Delta is attempting to pull off a delicate balancing act by cutting enough flights to improve profitability without luring competition, said Greg Clifton, an analyst with Moody’s Investors Service.

“Trimming flights makes routes more efficient, but they’re trying not to open the door for low-cost carriers to take market share in Cincinnati,” he said.

Those expanding low-cost carriers, which have overrun 70 percent of Delta’s other markets, are tight-lipped about their next move.

Kevin Healy, vice president of planning at AirTran, said the Orlando-based carrier has studied possible service to Cincinnati before and remains interested.

“Cincinnati is a strong market that we’ve looked at a lot — but we have to see how things evolve from here,” Healy said.

Healy said one complication for AirTran if it comes to Cincinnati is the airline’s already-established service in Dayton. He said the airline wouldn’t want to cannibalize its operations there.

Officials with Southwest Airlines, a low-cost upstart airline that has evolved to become the nation’s sixth largest, also expressed concern with siphoning loyal customers away from other airports. Still, with Columbus its nearest city, they acknowledge the airline has successfully operated in airports 100 miles apart.

“We’ve done that before,” said spokes-woman Brandy King.

JetBlue wouldn’t comment specifically on the Cincinnati market, but acknowledged the Midwest is creeping onto its radar in addition to more East and West Coast destinations. Though New York is a top destination out of Cincinnati, JetBlue officials did hint they would look for connections with less competition.

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Love-hate

Greater Cincinnati has had a long-standing love-hate relationship with Delta at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

While the airline is credited with driving billions of dollars worth of economic growth, residents have long decried the sky-high fares the hub was known for.

Last year, Delta introduced fare caps on all its flights.