Airlines Have Stopped Service to These 5 U.S. Cities. Now It’s Harder to Get to Them

This June, American Airlines announced that it’s cutting flights to Islip and Ithaca in New York and Toledo in Ohio from September 7. While the cities in New York are still served by other major airlines, Toledo doesn’t have any United or Delta flights either. People will have to depend on Allegiant Air for its handful of routes or drive to Detroit, which is an hour away.

American has reduced its regional flights considerably due to a lack of staff and has grounded 100 regional jets.

American Airlines is also stopping its service to Dubuque. Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce CEO & President Molly Grover said in a statement, “We are incredibly disappointed to learn of American Airlines’ decision to depart Dubuque. Unfortunately, this is the current trend in the aviation industry, and regional airports are taking the brunt of the impact.”

As American was the only commercial airline servicing the airport, the residents of the county will have to drive down to Chicago, three hours away, to connect to the world. There are also charter flights that Sun Country Airlines operates out of Dubuque.

In January this year, Delta suspended flights to Lincoln indefinitely. Now the airport has just United touching down on its runway. Delta also exited other regional markets and made major cuts to its routes. It has trimmed its summer schedule to better manage labor shortages and disruptions and said in a release, “This is meant to build additional resilience in our system and improve operational reliability for our customers and employees; we’ll continue proactively adjusting select flights in the coming weeks.”

In November 2021, United announced that it was dropping 11 cities from its network because the regional flights were unsustainable. Among them was Twin Falls, whose Magic Valley Regional Airport just has one Delta flight every day to and from Salt Lake City. 

This summer, United has cut 29 more cities, explaining that its contractor SkyWest doesn’t have enough pilots to run these routes. In the most recent setback for small communities, the airline has also stopped flights to Texarkana, Texas, and Flagstaff, Arizona.

American Airlines exited New Haven last year, so Tweed New Haven Airport has just one operator servicing its residents: newly-launched, low-cost Avelo Airlines. The other options for residents are airports in New York and New Jersey, which are more than 80 miles away.