As travel ramps back up to near pre-pandemic levels, some airlines are cutting back service in Des Moines, in part due to staffing shortages.
Delta Air Lines has discontinued its nonstop flight from Des Moines to Salt Lake City, while Southwest will temporarily reduce the frequency of its flight to Las Vegas to once a week, according to Kayla Kovarna, spokesperson for the Des Moines International Airport.
The cuts to Delta’s service come as the Atlanta-based airline announced several network changes, including halting direct flights to Salt Lake City from seven other cities, two of which it dropped permanently. Kovarna said the change was “communicated to us (by Delta) as a network operations decision due to capacity constraints.”
“While we understand the challenges Delta is facing, we were surprised as the nonstop service to SLC seemed to be doing well, according to our data,” she said. “We hope the service will return in the future and we will stay in communication with Delta and other airlines to ensure demand is being met.”
A Delta spokesperson said the company is continuing “to monitor and evaluate our route network and restart dates based on customer demand.”
Kovarna said Southwest also has “capacity constraints” and is reducing its service systemwide by 8.5%. The greatest impact will be to the Sin City — Southwest will fly direct from Des Moines only on Saturdays, though temporarily, instead of its daily route. (Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines still offer direct flights from Des Moines to Vegas.)
Southwest has ensured Des Moines airport officials the change is temporary. It is expected to last from April 3 through the summer.
“Airlines are adjusting to high demand combined with staffing shortages and COVID impacts,” Kovarna said.
The Dallas-based carrier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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