UrbanTallahassee.com Writers

August 27, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - When it rains, it pours, or so the saying goes. Tallahassee Regional airport may not have recorded the amount of rainfall from Tropical Storm Fay that other areas in the Capitol Region collected, but it has a storm of its own brewing behind the scenes.

Currently 5 major airlines operate out of Tallahassee Regional Airport. However, when the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines is complete, Tallahassee will be down to 4. This news doesn't sit well with many Tallahassee travelers, especially during these times of service cutbacks, and rising ticket prices. 

As Capital City of Florida, direct connections to other cities in the Sunshine State are essential to the efficiency of our local economy, and state government. Two thirds of business travel into Tallahassee is by air.

Delta airlines have recently announced plans to cease intrastate flights from Tallahassee to other Florida cities effective October 1, 2008. According to the Tallahassee Democrat:

"This month the Official Airline Guide — a British travel news service that tracks airline schedules and activity — released a report mentioning growth in low-cost and discount carriers as a reason why Delta and other legacy carriers leave smaller markets like Tallahassee for longer, more lucrative commercial flights." - Delta to cut non-stop flights -- August 26, 2008.

Delta currently uses Freedom Airlines, to service its daily flights between Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. Tallahassee currently has no low-cost or discount carrier.

Only Continental Airlines comes close to providing access to those cities with daily non-stop flights to Tampa, Orlando, and West Palm Beach via its Gulfstream International Airlines carrier. However, effective September, Continental will cease operations between Tallahassee and the airports it serve in Tampa, West Palm Beach, and Houston, TX in a move that would almost virtually erase that airline's service to Tallahassee. Orlando is the only city set to remain on Continental's Tallahassee route.