When the Delta/Northwest merger was announced last year, many wondered what would happen at Paducah's Barkley Regional Airport. Some hoped that they would bring in additional Delta flights to say Atlanta. Some feared they would trim back service.
The later came to pass as was announced yesterday. Delta announced it would cut back from three to two flights out of Paducah. They are dropping the mid-day flight and leaving only the 6:30 and 4:00 pm departures. This is the fewest number of flights I ever remember going out of Barkley. When TWA (later American) was there, there were at least 7 (3 TWA and 4 Northwest). American pulled out a few years ago and Northwest had trimmed back to three flights. Needless to say, this caused somewhat of an uproar. Several local businessmen expressed their displeasure at having to either get up really early or get to their destinations really late. Local government (McCracken County and Paducah) said they'd try to convince Delta not to do this. I am unsure how they think they are going to convince a large company to do this but anyway. The reasoning was of course as most often is cost. The flights out of Paducah are smaller commuter flights that hold about 30 to 40. They are generally always pretty full but I presume that simply wasn't enough for Delta.
Northwest in Memphis is the next hop for other areas besides Paducah such as Hattiesburg Mississippi, Fort Smith Arkansas, and Monroe Lousiana (just to name a few). From what I heard, some of those flights might be cut. There is starting to be a fear that Delta might someday pull completely out of Paducah leaving no airlines there. From about 7:00 to 2:00, the airport will be a ghost town I'd guess. It'll certainly hurt the two rental car companies there (Hertz and Avis). It wouldn't surprise me to see one of them pull out too.
Other flight options besides Paducah are Marion Illinois (about an hour away) which has commuter flights via American to St Louis. Cape Girardeau Missouri is about 1.25 hours away and also offers a couple of flights to St. Louis. And of course, one can drive to either Evansville or Nashville. This move solidifies my going to Nashville for my travel. I don't want to have to get to the airport at either 5:30am or leave at 4:00pm and not get to my destination til very late. I often have to fly out Sunday for a class starting Monday and I don't want to miss worship services by flying out really early in the day or really late. By going to Nashville, I can worship at Lebanon Road church of Christ.
I certainly hope they get more flights or another carrier for Barkley Regional, but right now I am not optimistic at all..
