ATA Airlines will discontinue domestic scheduled service at Chicago Midway on April 14, and the airline’s Mexico service will cease on June 7.
The pull-out from Chicago and the elimination of Mexico service would leave West Coast-Hawaii flights as ATA’s only remaining scheduled service. However, that might not survive either. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin today reported that ATA is considering leaving Hawaii due to rising fuel costs. The newspaper cited an internal memo it received from ATA’s unit of the Association of Flight Attendants to its members that stated the outlook for ATA’s Hawaii service is uncertain.
The Star-Bulletin article said the memo was sent yesterday following a Wednesday meeting of the board of directors of ATA’s parent company, Global Aero Logistics. The article also said the memo and sources familiar with the situation suggest that ATA is “re-examining its future in Hawaii.”
ATA would not comment on what a spokesman called rumors concerning Hawaii, according to article. ATA has between 11 and 15 daily departures to Hawaii from Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif.
Southwest Airlines is a codeshare partner of ATA, and ATA’s Hawaii service provides Southwest the lion’s share of its value in that agreement.
Domestic markets affected by cessation of Chicago service include flights to Oakland and Dallas/Fort Worth. The elimination of Mexico service will affect flights to Cancun and Guadalajara.
“ATA has operated a Midway hub since 1992, and we have greatly appreciated the support we received from the city of Chicago and our many customers during those years,” said Rob Binns, ATA’s chief commercial and planning officer. “This was a difficult decision, but the high cost of fuel has made it economically unfeasible to continue our low-fare service at Midway. We will redeploy our ATA aircraft in profitable charter service.”
All customers currently booked on discontinued ATA flights will receive refunds for the unused portions of their reservations, said ATA.