Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

Looks Like Delta Has Dropped Saturday Flight To Detroit


On the website it says that it will return in May.  It will not.....  Funny when we post things like the "current hub strategy" is not working and the airlines will not accept loads in the mid 50's, this is what happens!!     Days are dropped like this.....   


Overall, however, this flight has done better then we expected with the business market making connections to other destinations.    Problem is business market does not travel on Saturdays, so Delta has decided to drop it....   

Problem here is that it should have been Atlanta not Detroit.  We could have had been able to attract the leisure travelers going through Atlanta..   Not to mention people actually travel to Atlanta!!!        

Now Andy Davis and Massport will say that this is not big deal, but it is.      Delta has dropped a flight and is not the type of thing we need right now at Worcester Airport.   

This is what happens when you have loads in the mid 50's!!   This is just the start/warning shot!!!    Or we can be like "Don Simpson" and "Molly" and say this is no big deal and stop bashing the airport???  




Comments

Timothy MacDonald said…
I thought that might be the case after I tried to book a flight in March for a conference in San Diego. I want Worcester Airport to grow but having a flight that you can’t book a 5 day business trip doesn’t make any sense. It would better to have 3 daily’s out of ORH on one airline than 3 airlines with one daily to a different hub.
Dylan said…
Couldn't agree more Tim. We've been saying this from the start, but Massport is too in love with the fake notion that 3 major carriers are at ORH no matter how minimal the service. This now marks the second airline that has had to reduce service within a year of starting at ORH. Not good.
Common Sense said…
Massport's decision to buy Worcester Airport (for $17 million) and invest $100 million to upgrade it could go down as one of the worst boondoggles in state history. It's not news to me. The airport has been a cycle of failure for 50 years. People point to 1990 (300,000 passengers) as a pinnacle of success, but in reality you had a bunch of airlines coming in (8 I believe) that all ended up pulling out due to lack of ridership. Not only does a cutback in schedule discourage other airlines from starting service here, but it generates negative PR for the public that might be considering taking a chance using our airport. There used to be a city councilor years ago called Tom White. He begged the city manager and the council not to pump any more money in our airport. He probably was right when he said ORH is a losing horse. It's painful to watch these developments.
Anonymous said…

Molly is right. Maybe you should support and encourage people to use the airport. case in point. look at "Jan's" post on your other blog. she doesn't like the afternoon time to Fla. so she'd rather getup at 330am, drive to Logan pay $18 (rt) in tolls, pay $30+/day to park, to get to Fla before 10am. why not suggest she leave her house (near the airport) at 5 am (even use uber to avoid the $7/day to park) and board the JFK flight less than 1 hour from leaving the house. 50 minute connection in NY and she's in Fla before 11am. so she'd rather drag the kids out of bed at 3am to get a full day in Fla? those kids will hit the wall at 3pm. personally I prefer the afternoon flight. I get a full day in at work. arrive in Fla around 8, check in, dine, it the pillow and start the day about the same time Jan's somewhere over the Carolinas. based on your stats, there's about 150,000 that agree with me.
Timothy MacDonald said…
Worcester should have a morning, afternoon, and evening flight to Orlando and I bet they would all be successful. That goes for Fort Lauderdale and JFK too. Philly and Detroit could be great flights too but again the schedule is not set up for people to use regularly.
Common Sense said…
I'm sick of hearing about cheap parking and quick check-in times. People are more concerned about reliability and flights to destinations that are desirable. If I'm taking my family on a $5,000 vacation to the Caribbean you think I care about paying an extra $150 in parking fees? Business travelers get all their transportation costs paid by their employers so they care even less. It looks like Massport’s $300,000 marketing campaign has been a dismal failure.
Dylan said…
150,000 maybe between the two flights Anonymous. The flights have only declined since they moved from that time slot to a not bad but not impressive 80% and 79%. It may work for you, but the overwhelming statistics industry wide support the new time slot as more customer friendly. We support either one but getting into Florida at 11 PM is not ideal. That being said we do believe ORH can support both a morning and afternoon flight if given the opportunity.

Failure is the only way to describe anything at ORH right now.
Anonymous said…
Common Sense says, I'm sick of hearing about cheap parking and quick check-in times. People are more concerned about reliability and flights to destinations that are desirable. If I'm taking my family on a $5,000 vacation to the Caribbean you think I care about paying an extra $150 in parking fees? Business travelers get all their transportation costs paid by their employers so they care even less. It looks like Massport’s $300,000 marketing campaign has been a dismal failure."

You are correct about a few bucks in parking fees, but as a mostly business traveler, what matters THE ABOSULTE MOST is TIME.
Time is much more valuable than money in the business travel equation. Worcester Airport saves HOURS versus flying Logan airport, even if I'm connecting through JFK. (which I will not do in winter months due to more than doubling the chance of a delay or cancelation due to weather).

Lets not forget sleep. Catching a 6am flight out of ORH versus out of BOS? Not even the same universe if you live in central Mass.