Delta Air Lines announced Friday that it intends to stop serving Fort Dodge Regional Airport, prompting the federal government to launch a search for a new carrier for the community.
The airline gave the U.S. Department of Transportation notice that it wants to stop flying to and from Fort Dodge in 90 days, according to Delta and government representatives.
The announcement is part of a larger announcement that would affect service in the Midwest.
''We're looking to exit the market at this point,'' Kristin Baur, a Delta spokeswoman, said Friday afternoon.
The 90-day period began Friday and ends Oct. 12. But commercial flights will not suddenly end on Oct. 12.
''We would not allow the carrier to leave the community until we have a new carrier in place,'' said Bill Mosley, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation. ''The 90 days is not necessarily the day they will leave.''
Mosley said the Department of Transportation will begin seeking proposals for a new carrier to serve Fort Dodge ''very shortly.''
Baur said the airline is retiring the SAAB 340 turboprop planes used for Fort Dodge flights. That retirement, combined with what Baur described as a low level of usage, has left Delta ''unable to achieve profitability'' in small markets like Fort Dodge, she said.
Baur said Fort Dodge flights are, on average, 39 percent full. Systemwide, she said, Delta flights are 83 percent full.
According to Baur, Delta managers have talked to representatives of Great Lakes Airlines, based in Cheyenne, Wyo., about the possibility of that company bidding to take over the Fort Dodge service.
Whatever airline the government selects for the Fort Dodge business will receive a federal subsidy. Delta now receives roughly $1 million from the federal government's Essential Air Service program annually to serve the community. With its notification Friday, the airline declared that it wants out of its subsidy agreement.
Delta, based in Atlanta, Ga., is the only airline serving Fort Dodge. Its flights link the city to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis. There, passengers can get connecting flights to cities all over the world.
The airline's decision surprised John Kramer, the president of the Development Corporation of Fort Dodge and Webster County. He said that recently the number of passengers on Fort Dodge flights has been growing quickly.
The loss of commercial air service would make the community ''a little bit less competitive'' in the quest for new businesses and jobs, Kramer said.
Calls seeking comment from Rhonda Chambers, the airport's director of aviation, were not immediately returned Friday.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net