Monday, June 5, 2023

Delta pulls out of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport…temporarily

The entrance to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News. (WYDaily file)
The entrance to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News. (WYDaily file)

There’s one less airline at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.

Delta Airlines late Friday announced it is temporarily suspending all flights to and from the airport beginning Wednesday, a move company officials say is due to low customer traffic and coronavirus concerns.

It had been flying from Newport News/Williamsburg Airport to Atlanta three times a day.

“The safety of our employees and customers remains our primary focus as we navigate these challenges together,” said Sandy Gordon, senior vice president – Domestic Airport Operations. “By consolidating operations while customer traffic is low, we can allow more of our people to stay home in accordance with local health guidelines.”

Hampton Roads is served by two airports: Newport News/Williamsburg and Norfolk International Airport – Delta will still fly in and out of Norfolk International.

The CARES Act lets an airline do that if it serves more than one airport in an area.

According to published reports, Newport News/Williamsburg Airport received $4 million in stimulus money.

Delta has announced an 85 percent reduction in its second quarter schedule, which include reductions of 80 percent in U.S. domestic capacity and 90 percent internationally.

Delta suspended service to nine other airports. Stations will remain closed at least until September, as Delta continues to evaluate overall network needs, according to a news release from the company.

The airlines will “re-accommodate” customers whose travel is impacted as a result of service suspensions. Affected Delta employees will be provided pay protection options through Sept. 30, 2020.

Delta is looking at other opportunities to take similar measures in additional markets.

The company filed a request with the U.S. Department of Transportation last month to consolidate operations in another nine cities served by multiple airports. That request is still under review.

For those impacted by the suspension of service, Delta has extended waived change fees and the flexibility to travel through Sept. 30, 2022, to customers with canceled travel through September 2020.

Eligible customers include those who have:

  • Upcoming travel already booked between now and Sept. 30 as of April 17, 2020.
  • Canceled travel from flights between March 2020 and September 2020.

Customers can cancel and change their bookings on Delta.com.

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John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttp://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo (john@localdailymedia.com) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

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