Airlines given tentative OK to halt service to dozens of U.S. cities

The Transportation Department said late Friday that it would tentatively allow 15 airlines to stop flights to about 60 mostly small and mid-size cities, although none of the destinations stands to lose service entirely.

The destinations are mostly in secondary markets where airlines have said there is little demand for flights or that could be served by other nearby airports.

American Airlines, for example, would be allowed to stop flying to an airport in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is a little over an hour’s drive from Boston Logan International Airport. It would also be allowed to stop flying to Aspen and

Eagle, Colorado.

Delta Air Lines would be able to stop service to Erie, Pennsylvania, Flint, Michigan, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Williston, North Dakota, among others. United Airlines would be able to stop flights to Fairbanks, Alaska, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and others.

None of the cities would be left without service, though, because the agency granted exemptions only if other airlines still flew to them, it said. The Transportation Department said it reserved the right to revoke any decision if it resulted in “inadequate capacity or connectivity” to a destination.

The decision is rooted in the federal stimulus adopted in late March, known as the

CARES Act. Under that law, any airline that received federal assistance, including all of the major carriers, is required to maintain a minimum number of flights to locations that it had served before the pandemic erased virtually all demand for air travel. But the law also allowed the Transportation Department to grant exceptions, which it has done regularly for weeks.

The outbreak has created a financial crisis for the aviation industry, worse than the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or the economic crisis a decade ago. Demand for flights started to plummet in March. By mid-April, airlines on average were transporting about 95% fewer passengers than they were the year before.