"Atlanta will still be slightly larger with a higher percentage of flights being on mainline, but this is just the beginning of unlocking the potential of Detroit for us," comments Chief Operating Officer Paul Hayes Johnson of Delta. "For years, customers have complained about how much they hate Atlanta and the preferential treatment we've been giving them in allocating our resources there to produce profits. However, we needed to make money. Now, though, we've learned that thousands of our Diamond-Gold Triple-Medallions are threatening to leave if they don't get a chance to stop over in Detroit. That made it an easy choice, and we're proud to serve our customer's wishes with today's future-focused announcement."
Full details of the new schedules will come out this August, but for example Johnson says that Cleveland will go from having eight daily mainline flights to ATL and five daily (of which one is mainline to DTW) to six flights daily to each which will be "mostly mainline".
As part of this shift, DL is expanding its terminals in DTW this summer, and moving several thousand employees to the Detroit area, something local officials say "should have happened long ago". Reportedly, DL will take over several gates from existing carriers in Detroit, making reductions in ULCC service likely, although the carrier promises to launch upwards of thirty new destinations from DTW including several new international routes to be annouced in the upcoming weeks.
"Its the real deal 'Merca," says Johnson, "the new superhub, D-T-W, and it's coming!"
Effects to nearby hubs and focus cities in CVG, MSP, BOS, LGA, and JFK were not released, though "some reductions" are possible in MSP to further boost DTW in Summer 2021, undisclosed sources relate to us. Atlanta airport officials did not comment at press time.
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