TWA Trims Transatlantic Flights, Delta Adds Frequency

Air service through North America's largest European gateway, John F. Kennedy Airport, will see some major changes as both Delta and TWA adjust their flight schedules.

TWA will eliminate service between JFK and Frankfurt starting today, and between JFK and Athens in mid-April. In addition, the airline plans to eliminate service between JFK and Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Seattle and Tampa.

By July, Delta will cancel its Frankfurt connecting service, except for Frankfurt-Bombay. The airline currently flies from Frankfurt to Athens, Bucharest, Istanbul, Moscow, Warsaw and St. Petersburg. Delta will fly to Warsaw from JFK via Berlin and will continue its daily JFK-Moscow flight. Flights to Frankfurt from Orlando, Washington and Los Angeles will be cut.

But Delta also will add some flights. It plans to bump its Athens seasonal service up to year-round and add new flights to Madrid, Manchester and Istanbul, as well as a seasonal flight to Rome. To help feed its JFK operations domestically, Delta will add new daily service from Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle plus a third Los Angeles flight. It also will add a second Atlanta-Zurich flight and begin Atlanta-Stuttgart service.

Both carriers said the moves will result in better aircraft utilization, providing cost efficiencies by better matching capacity with demand. But other factors were at hand as well.

In TWA's case, flights to Athens and Frankfurt are not profitable. "These markets are well-served by other carriers, and we feel our aircraft can be better utilized on other routes," said Jan Wood, vice president of sales for TWA. She noted that much of the discontinued domestic service to JFK is from other airlines' hubs, and most of those routes are only one flight a day, except Houston, which is two. "We will add frequencies on profitable routes, giving business travelers added value," she said.

TWA continues to lose money at a time when most other airlines are raking in profits, particularly over the North Atlantic. On-time difficulties, lack of success in finding a CEO and dampened demand following last summer's crash have hurt the carrier. TWA said it will focus on its St. Louis hub, but many of its operational problems stem from cancellations due to the limits of Lambert Field in bad weather.

Meanwhile, Delta CEO Ron Allen said his airline is working to improve revenues by about $60 million a year and to provide a better fit with its European alliance partners.

While Allen said Delta is cutting the Frankfurt hub because international regulations restrict the carrier's flexibility there, some suggested that Delta is conceding part of the German market to United-Lufthansa. Allen emphasized, however, that the carrier is "not pulling out of Germany."

Steven Schoen, president of The Global Group, a Burke, Va.-based consultancy, said Delta seems to be taking advantage of TWA's reduction out of JFK. "Delta is capitalizing on a lack of consumer confidence in TWA and helping protect its share to Europe vis a vis United and Lufthansa."

Allen said, however, that the moves have nothing to do with TWA or United-Lufthansa.