Delta Airlines says it’s cutting international flights by 20-25% and domestic flights by 10-15% amid a dip in travelers due to coronavirus concerns.
As reported by our news partners at the Milwaukee Business Journal, Delta CEO Ed Bastian made the announcement Tuesday.
“In the weeks since COVID-19 emerged, Delta people have risen to the challenge, taking every possible action to take care of and protect our customers during a stressful time,” Bastain said in a statement. “As the virus has spread, we have seen a decline in demand across all entities, and we are taking decisive action to also protect Delta’s financial position. As a result, we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to immediately reduce capacity and are implementing cost reductions and cash flow initiatives across the organization.”
Delta is one of Mitchell International’s busiest airlines, second to Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. The two companies make up roughly 65% of air travel at Mitchell. Southwest hasn’t made any changes to its flight schedule this summer, but through a statement the company said it’s, “closely monitoring” the COVID-19 situation.
In addition to Delta, American-Airlines Tuesday also announced plans to reduce travel this summer. The company says its reducing international travel by 10% and domestic travel 7.5%.
