Delta's New York to D.C. Shuttle, Bucking Tradition, Removes Midday Flights

Delta Air Lines (DAL) - Get Report said it will cut back on its New York La Guardia-Washington Reagan National shuttle flights, ending a longstanding pattern of hourly flights on the shuttle, which during 55 years of existence at two airlines has provided a stage where some of the most intriguing trends in aviation have played out.

Over the weekend Delta loaded fall schedules, which take effect in August, that have 12 daily weekday departures, but skip two midday flights.

Between 5:50 a.m. and 7 p.m. Delta flies La Guardia-National with flights on the hour or close to the hour except at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. From National, Delta will also offer 12 weekday departures, but with none close to 9 a.m. or 11 a.m.

The Reagan National slots that had been used to provide shuttle service will instead be used for flights to Raleigh-Durham.

"Delta is unwilling to take the load factor and profitability penalty that goes with operating midday hours," said aviation consultant Bob Mann.

Operating a shuttle is "a peaky business," Mann said. "It makes sense to fly only when you can make money."

Delta will continue to operate hourly weekday service between La Guardia and Boston Logan, while American (AAL) - Get Report will continue to operate hourly weekday service on both La Guardia-National and La Guardia-Boston routes.

What is now the Delta Shuttle began operating in 1980 as the New York Air shuttle, one of many aspects of present day commercial aviation that owes its origin to aviation entrepreneur Frank Lorenzo. Lorenzo had started New York Air and wanted to offer shuttle service in competition with the long-established and successful Eastern Air Lines Shuttle, according to Wikipedia.

The Eastern shuttle first flew on April 30, 1961. Initially, Eastern operated every two hours between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. out of each city with a Lockheed 1049 Super Constellation, which seated about 100 passengers, but it quickly switched to hourly departures.

When Lorenzo acquired Eastern in 1986, government regulators forced him to divest the New York Air shuttle, which he sold to Pan American World Airways. After Pan Am filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991, Delta acquired its shuttle as well as its European route network.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Shuttle was acquired in 1989 by Donald Trump, another aviation entrepreneur who, like Lorenzo, was born in Queens. In 1991, after Trump defaulted on the bank loan used to buy the shuttle, the banks reached a deal with US Airways, which agreed to manage the airline until 1996, and then to buy it. American merged with US Airways in 2013.

The shuttle today is not what it was. Airlines no longer roll out an extra airplane, as they once did, if a flight lacks enough seats to accommodate every passenger. "It has changed from being a shuttle to reserve service," Mann said.

Additionally, traffic fell off after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, led to an increase in time-consuming airport security, a trend that was replicated on short-haul routes throughout the country. While in many parts of the country the best alternative to a short-haul flight might be to drive, in the Northeast improving Amtrak service provided a second option.

In April 2010, in the story "Airline Shuttles Smaller but Still Flying Hourly," The New York Times reported that even though shuttle traffic had diminished, Delta and US Airways were maintaining hourly service, albeit with smaller aircraft including the 75-seat Embraer E-175 operated by regional carrier Shuttle America for Delta.

"Hourly flights have been the distinguishing characteristic of airline shuttles since the 1960s, when Eastern Air's shuttle sold tickets on board and promised to add a plane if a flight was full," the newspaper reported. "While change fees, boarding passes and security screenings have ended that era, and competition from Amtrak's Acela service has lured passengers from shuttle flights, the frequency and predictability of the shuttle schedule has become almost a sacred cow."

Now, it seems, basic airline economics require the slaying of one more sacred cow.

Change is also coming to the Boston-La Guardia shuttle route, where JetBlue (JBLU) - Get Report plans to begin service on Oct. 31, bringing lower fares to the market.

JetBlue said last week that it will offer six daily weekday round trips, with reduced weekend service. JetBlue is the leading domestic carrier at Boston Logan, where it has about 140 daily departures. It will operate the flights with 100 seat Embraer 190 aircraft.

JetBlue's entry into the market "clears the way for a long overdue alternative between La Guardia and Boston for those who have been priced out of air travel and onto the roads and rails by high-fare legacy carriers," said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes in a prepared statement.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.