Here in Tampa, Florida it is making news that Delta is going to stop flying non stop to Tallahassee, the state capital, from Tampa and Orlando . These flights were flown by a Delta Connection carrier. See my previous article about the name on the tail not being the same as who is paying the pilots, The flights stopped because they, as Delta Connection, where not making any money. It has been that way awhile. So bad does Tallahassee want non stop service to the heavily populated center of the state that they agreed some time ago to reimburse Delta for the cost of the flights, If Delta showed they were not breaking even, the politicians in Tallahassee would cough up cash to keep the props turning. Estimates range upwards of 1.5 million this year will be owed to Delta under the agreement, and that still was not enough to make it work.
This leaves Gulfstream Airlines, flying Beech 1900 19 seat turboprops as a Continental regional as the only carrier flying non stop between Central Florida and the capital. A recent search on expedia showed a roundtrip fare of $303.00 for the 200 mile trip. To show that capitalism and the free market have very little in common with the state of the airlines, a roundtrip ticket on USAIR from Tampa to Tallahassee costs $449.00 and connects in Washington D.C. A roundtrip ticket to Costa Rica from Tampa costs $308.00. A round trip ticket on Delta costs $503.00 and connects in Miami and Atlanta.
Prior to deregulation, the US government subsidized legacy airline flights into small markets. The government felt it was vital to commerce for most cities of any size to have air service. After deregulation, the regionals sprung up to take over the flying the legacy carriers were not getting subsidized to do anymore. Sometimes even the regionals can not make it work.
Free market is a great idea, but sometimes the free market decides you cannot make money providing a service to certain areas, so the service goes away. I would feel better if I understood why Continental is charging me the same amount to go 200 miles as another carrier is charging to take me to Central America
