AirTran has ended Dayton-Las Vegas direct flights
Comment: Will you miss this flight?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
DAYTON — AirTran Airways has ended the Dayton-to-Las Vegas direct air service it started last year, because the increased prices of jet fuel have made the route unprofitable, a spokeswoman for the airline said on Wednesday, May 28.
"Unfortunately, with fuel prices at record levels and continuing to escalate we are having to make tough decisions on routes like LAS (Las Vegas) that are primarily leisure, because the fare demands are such that we cannot a high enough yield for the route to be profitable," Judy Graham-Weaver, an AirTran spokeswoman in Atlanta, said in an e-mail response.
Extras
Iftikhar Ahmad, who oversees Dayton International Airport as Dayton's director of aviation, said AirTran had notified the airport of its decision and that the airline could reconsider if fuel prices were to decline later on. The Dayton-Las Vegas flights were popular last year, Ahmad said.
AirTran ended the Dayton-Las Vegas service in April. Graham-Weaver said the airline is also ending direct Las Vegas service from Bloomington, Ill.; Akron-Canton, Ohio; Moline, Ill.; Flint, Mich., Rochester, N.Y. AirTran will continue its direct service to Las Vegas from Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Atlanta, she said.
People in the affected markets can still get to Las Vegas on AirTran, but would have to rely on connecting flights through the markets that continue to be served, Graham-Weaver said.
Dayton airport officials announced last week that Air Canada has agreed to begin offering two daily nonstop flights to Toronto beginning on July 15, which could allow business travelers from Dayton to connect with flights from Air Canada's Toronto hub to Europe, Tokyo, Japan, or Sydney, Australia. Air Canada hasn't provided Dayton-to-Toronto service since 2002.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Comments
By pytes boxwsrekj
February 8, 2009 7:09 PM | Link to this
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By Marilyn
June 4, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this
We booked in March ‘08 for a non-stop out of Akron-Canton to Las Vegas in Sept. Sadly we are concelling since Airtrans droped the straight thru flight. Give our seats to someone else. We’re too old for the layovers, running to make connections and the added 3.5 hours each way are unacceptable. Life will go on in LV without us.
By Ben
May 29, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this
We already had the flight booked in September for our wedding. So should I be getting some $ back? This is all so frustrating.
By Brazito
May 29, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
I loved the non-stop flight. Will not take any of their other flights as the schedules are terrible. I will take Frontier from now on.
By Phil
May 28, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this
Good one Janice!
By Janice
May 28, 2008 7:19 PM | Link to this
You BET I will!
By Bill
May 28, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
Actually there is enough prosperity in Dayton to support this flight. Cities much smaller than Dayton support regular nonstops to Las Vegas and have for years. Just take a look at a Southwest airlines route map, you’ll see. Air Tran is famous for adding new routes and then closing them down about a month later.
By Paul
May 28, 2008 5:56 PM | Link to this
YES - I will miss it. If you look at the map most cities in the U.S. have direct service to Las Vegas via Southwest Airlines or Allegiant. They seem to make it work. As for Frontier airlines - I won’t ever fly them again due to a totally mishandled 19 hour delay out of Dayton two Summers ago. It was not pretty. They finally flew in a new part for the plane but it was the wrong one. We sat…sat…sat… and they had a thousand excuses as to why they wouldn’t reroute us on another carrier.
By Bo
May 28, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this
There is not really enought prosperity in Dayton to support a scecific flight to Vegas. Sure there is wealth in Warren County or Auglaize county that might take the flight but some of those folks take net jets. Personally I like taking Frontier thru Denver more then the Airtran flight anyways. Frontiers planes are larger, they have DirecTV in the seats, and Frontiers prices were always lower. The stop in Denver doesnt bother me, its a good stop over, unless there is a blizzard in Denver.