Delta Air Lines Inc. announced that it will shut down its Comair subsidary as a means of cutting back on low-margin regional flying.
Comair will cease service after September 29 to its served regions, Delta's Midwest and east cost areas.
"While regional flying has and will remain a key component of Delta's network, customer expectations and the unit costs of regional flying have evolved," Don Bornhorst, senior vice president of Delta Connection, said in a memo to employees.
As of March, Comair had close to 1,700 employees, according to its website. Employees will be considered for open positions at Delta and its other partners, Delta spokesman, Trebor Banstetter, said in an email to Bloomberg.
Comair accounts for about 1 percent of Delta's seating capacity, so the shutdown will not affect travelers and "no significant adjustments" to Delta's flight schedule or destinations will occur.
Delta hopes to use more of its economically friendly planes to replace 75 percent of the flying done by Comair's costly 50-seater jets.
Delta's plan is to shave off at least $1 billion over the next few years with the shutdown of its subsidiary.
