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Starting April 5, the morning flight to Memphis will change to a late afternoon flight. Instead of a 7 a.m. departure, the Mesaba Airlines flight will leave at 5 p.m.
It’s a major change that caught some Tupelo Airport Authority members off guard when they met Friday for their monthly board meeting.
Authority Chairman Dan Kellum broke the news to the board, saying, “We got notified about a week ago.”
The board also heard that boardings in February fell 22 percent from a year ago, to 655.
Mesaba, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, now has the morning flight to Memphis and a 10:26 a.m. flight to Atlanta.
When the new schedule takes effect, the Atlanta flight will not change.
Kellum said he didn’t want to speculate on why Delta made the change, and Delta officials were unavailable for comment on Friday.
The move comes even as Mesaba negotiates with the U.S. Department of Transportation about continuing service in Tupelo.
In July, Mesaba said it could no longer provide air service without a federal subsidy. The airline hopes to receive money through the Essential Air Service program and has submitted a bid with options ranging from about $1 million to nearly $2 million.
Earlier this week, DOT ordered Mesaba to continue service through at least April 14 or until it chose which option it preferred.
City and airport officials have asked DOT to consider Mesaba’s package that includes three daily flights.
They argue that with more flights with better departure times, passenger traffic can pick up again.
In 2004, when Tupelo Regional was served by two regional carriers providing up to seven flights daily, more than 31,000 boardings were recorded. One carrier pulled out in January 2008, and boardings fell to fewer than 16,000. Last year, a little more than 13,000 boardings were recorded, the fewest since 1997.
And February’s numbers were the fewest since the early 1990s.
Contact Dennis Seid at (662) 678-1578 or dennis.seid@djournal.com.
With a "hub" airport about 90 minutes away, it doesn't make sense to me to fly in/out of Tupelo airport.
I've lived in cities where it took about that to get to its own international airport.
By the time you drive to the Tupelo airport, park, deal with luggage and security, get on the plane, fly to Memphis, etc. you probably could have driven to Memphis and be waiting to board your connection.
I'd be interested to see what positive economic impact that the Tupelo airport actually has on the area, if any at all once the operating costs are considered.
Or is its presence more of a "bragging right" in that the city can say they have an airport for political purposes?
From the standpoint of this traveler (who has traveled in excess of 1 million air miles), I don't find it practical for use, certainly not for business travel.
I don't fly any more (I don't go where I can't carry a simple pocket knife), but I can understand why the puddle-jumper services are having a hard time.