Fuel costs blamed for reductions

Soaring fuel costs are affecting the schedules of legacy airlines and low-cost carriers alike, as evidenced in new plans by Delta to cut back its operations at Boston and new entrant Skybus to trim schedules at its Columbus base and its new focus airport of Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, N.C.

By June, Delta will reduce capacity at Boston Logan by 14 percent, mainly by eliminating regional jet service on routes that don’t feed its major hubs. On May 1, Delta will eliminate one of its two daily Boston-Los Angeles flights; and by June, Delta will end service out of Boston Logan to Las Vegas; New Orleans; Greensboro, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Louisville, Ky.; and Charleston, S.C. The cutbacks by Delta will vault JetBlue into the number one position among airlines serving Boston.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Skybus has nixed its earlier plans to begin new service April 1 between Columbus and Niagara Falls, N.Y., and to add a second daily Columbus-Milwaukee flight. On April 15, Skybus will drop its Columbus-Chattanooga route and will reduce service from two flights a day to one from Columbus to New York State’s Stewart Airport and to Chicopee, Mass. On the same date, Skybus will end service from Greensboro to Biloxi, and will reduce schedules from two daily roundtrips to one from Greeensboro to Gary, Ind.; Wilmington, Del.; Punta Gorda, Fla.; and New York/Stewart.