Delta cuts flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Hawaii, other countries

The main carrier at MSP does not expect overseas flights to resume until at least June.

March 27, 2020 at 1:55PM
Tail fins of Delta Air Lines planes at Pinal Airpark, in Red Rock, Ariz., as many passenger planes are being kept at the facility as airlines cut back on service due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Tail fins of Delta Air Lines planes at Pinal Airpark, in Red Rock, Ariz., as many passenger planes are being kept at the facility as airlines cut back on service due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Delta Air Lines temporarily ended Minnesota's nonstop connections to Hawaii and countries outside the U.S., including most stops in Canada, part of the ongoing reduction in its flight capacity as demand continues to weaken for air travel.

Delta, the dominant carrier at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, ended its daily nonstop flight to Honolulu on Thursday. The carrier last week said it was reducing its overall capacity by 70%, and would park 600 of its approximately 900 airplanes as demand for travel plunged amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The airline will end the daily nonstop flights between MSP and Tokyo's Haneda International Airport on April 1.

Delta already cut nonstop flights to London and Amsterdam from MSP. The airline is now only flying to London once a day from Atlanta and to Amsterdam once a day from Atlanta and Detroit.

Flights to between MSP and Vancouver and Toronto will be suspended on Saturday. The last round-trip to Montreal flew earlier this week. Through an affiliate, Delta still has a daily roundtrip between MSP and Winnipeg.

In the past few days, Delta also suspended direct flights for the time being from MSP to Liberia, Costa Rica, and Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands.

In most cases, Delta does not expect to resume international flights until at least June 1.

The airline parked scores of planes at its Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, where a runway and taxiways were closed to accommodate them. It flew others to logistics airports in Arizona and California that offer parking services for air fleets.

Evan Ramstad • 612-673-4241

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about the writer

Evan Ramstad

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Evan Ramstad is a Star Tribune business columnist.

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