Delta Connection To End Peoria-Detroit Route! (Updated)


Peoria is losing service to one of the nation's top hubs. 

Effective Tuesday, November 27, Delta Connection is dropping two weekday roundtrips between Peoria Int'l Airport and Delta Air Lines' hub at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

The cut comes at the same time the same airline is dropping its roundtrip between Bloomington-Normal and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Retirement of 50-seat regional jets and a pilot shortage brought on by federal requirements for increased flying hours are likely factors.

Schedules show that in November, 76-seat CRJ900s will be used on some Peoria-Atlanta flights, so the loss of seats appears minimal at this time. The end of Detroit service reduces Delta's local presence to three Atlanta nonstops and one to Minneapolis/St. Paul. 

Peoria has a history of Detroit service which dates to 1976. On December 15 that year, Ozark Air Lines began twice-daily nonstop jet service. Service was reduced to a single, daily-except-Saturday service before ending April 27, 1981. Republic Airlines began thrice-daily Peoria-Detroit jet service on June 2, 1986. Merger with Northwest Airlines on October 1 that year brought smaller planes, venerable Convair 580 turboprops. The service, already reduced to two roundtrips, ended May 2, 1988.

Skyway Airlines dba Midwest Express Connection began offering Peoria-Detroit service (via Bloomington-Normal) on September 17, 1990. Service began with two roundtrips. A third was added eventually, stopping at Rockford in both directions. On September 15, 1992, Northwest Airlink began flying between Bloomington-Normal and Detroit, which prompted Skyway to drop B-N and replace it with Champaign-Urbana. That arrangement lasted until September 9, 1993 when Peoria-Detroit went nonstop. Skyway dropped Peoria on December 15, 1993.

Northwest Airlink began one-stop (via Bloomington-Normal) service to Detroit on August 1, 1997. Service, which was eventually expanded to three roundtrips, with stops at either Bloomington-Normal or Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana. Nonstop service was offered beginning June 1, 2001. The effects of 9-11 and a long downturn in air travel brought an end to the service on April 5, 2003. Service resumed August 21, 2007 with two roundtrips on 50-seat CRJ200s. Airport officials showed the carrier that two-thirds of its Detroit-bound passengers out of Bloomington-Normal lived closer to Peoria. Merger with Delta Air Lines on January 31, 2010 brought re-branding to "Delta Connection."

The loss of these flights after eleven years is sad, but it may strengthen remaining services offered by Delta Connection.

UPDATE (9-12-18): The Peoria Journal Star posted this news on its website late Tuesday evening. Load factors were below standard, so Delta [Connection] decided to pull the plug. 

- David P. Jordan

Comments

  1. KenSeptember 10, 2018 at 9:55 AM

    David - Where are you seeing the CRJ900's for the ATL-PIA flights? Everything I am looking in November and December still looks like CRJ--200's. I am surprised they are not at least flying CRJ700's on PIA-ATL yet. BMI-ATL has seen some downgrades where the CRJ900's are being replaced by CRJ700's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David P. JordanSeptember 10, 2018 at 10:36 AM

      Delta.com shows CRJ200s but Flightmapper shows CRJ900s on some flights as early as November 4. We'll see when the time comes.

      Delete

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