Delta Air Lines applied to suspend service to the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport Wednesday after experiencing major losses nationwide.
“Our traffic into Brunswick mirrors exactly what is happening nationally, a 95 percent reduction,” said Robert Burr, executive director of the Glynn County Airport Commission. “However, we anticipate that will return as our businesses reopen their services.”
The airline took money appropriated by U.S. legislators in the CARES Act, a $2 trillion bill meant to help small and large businesses, individuals and healthcare facilities get through government-mandated shutdown orders resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Because it took the money, Burr said Delta was obligated to maintain a minimum level of service. That meant at least one 50-seat plane continued to fly daily between Brunswick and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The bill also included a provision to apply for exemptions, however.
“In the CARES Act there is a provision where airlines can request to adjust their schedules or reduce their schedules, and many airlines have applied for those exemptions,” Burr said. “Most requests have not been denied.”
The rationale is that area residents who need to catch a flight can easily drive to the Jacksonville International Airport.
“They believe that being less than a 60-minute drive to Jacksonville that this community can be served through Jacksonville,” Burr said.
The application includes nine other airports in South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Massachusetts, all of which Delta says are within an hour of other airports. The Brunswick airport is the only one in Georgia on the list.
Delta is the only commercial airline serving the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport.
The news comes just months after the company announced plans to add in May another daily flight to and from Atlanta, bringing the total flights to three. This one would have held 76 passengers and featured first class service, a step up from what the airport offered before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Burr couldn’t say how COVID-19 will impact those plans.
“We were about to expand service,” Burr said. “Delta recognized how well we were doing so we want to get back on that same path. Delta said they haven’t abandoned the interest in expanding.”
Burr said the Federal Aviation Administration could give its answer to Delta’s request to suspend the flight today.
The application does not include a date on which Delta intends to resume service, but he said the airline plans to pick flights back up when tourists return this summer.
Despite the move to suspend service, Burr is optimistic.
“The airport is a reflection of the community, so when the community gets back to normal so will the airport,” Burr said.
He is a firm believer that flights with high occupancy rates will return because the local economy was strong before the pandemic.
“The good news is because things were so positive things will rebound,” he said. “A lot of the cancellations we’ve had are getting rebooked for later in the year.”
———
©2020 The Brunswick News (Brunswick, Ga.)
Visit The Brunswick News (Brunswick, Ga.) at www.thebrunswicknews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
