Delta lowers Cincinnati fares
Domestic flights out of the main hub are cut by as much as 60 percent.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
CINCINNATI — Delta Air Lines passengers began getting a price break Friday, Feb. 6, on domestic flights out of the airline's Cincinnati hub, where high fares have prompted some travelers to drive more than 100 miles to get cheaper flights at competing airports.
Delta controls 91 percent of the market at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Hebron, Ky.
Delta said Friday that fares at the Cincinnati hub would be reduced from 5 percent to 60 percent, depending on the flight destination.
The new fares are intended to make Delta more competitive in the Cincinnati area and encourage travelers to fly out of Cincinnati instead of "wasting time and money driving to neighboring airports," said Glenn Hausenstein, Delta's executive vice president for network planning and revenue management.
There are other factors beyond ticket price that consumers take into account when choosing where to fly, such as travel time to and from the facility and ease of use, said Linda Hughes, spokeswoman for the Dayton International Airport. "We'll continue to try and make the Dayton airport a good value for all of our travelers," she said.
In 2008, passenger boardings for Delta Air Lines climbed 14.7 percent to 138,400, versus 120,700 a year ago.
For all Delta-related airlines, including Delta, ComAir and Atlantic Southeast, passenger boardings fell 2.8 percent last year.
