Delta Postpones Raleigh/Durham to Paris Flight

Raleigh-Durham International Airport announced earlier this week that Delta would be postponing its Raleigh/Durham to Paris/Charles de Gaulle flight by one year from summer 2009 to summer 2010. According to Delta, it’s because of the economic climate, but something doesn’t smell right here.

It was less than two months ago, November 6 to be exact, that Delta announced it would launch a flight from Raleigh/Durham to Paris beginning in summer 2009. Let’s think about what has happened since November. Has the economy worsened? Certainly, but there haven’t been any big shocks since then.

So when Raleigh/Durham says, “[Delta] indicated that its decision was based upon the current economic climate and not the strength of the market or demand for the service” then I start to wonder. There are only a couple things that could have changed this decision.

The most simple explanation is that they simply found a better use for the airplane, but that’s pretty poor form to make changes so rapidly. If that’s not the case, maybe a corporate contract backed out.  But most companies I know made their travel cuts before November.  I suppose it only takes one big one to throw plans off.

If it’s neither of those, it’s entirely possible that there was just some questionable decision-making in the first place and they’ve second-guessed themselves. I’m sure there’s more to this story.