Customers used to flying with Delta Air Lines’ regional carrier Comair, beware — the airline is shutting down the Cincinnati-based subsidiary at the end of September, as it’s switching to bigger jets that aren’t as expensive to fly. Most of Comair’s employees are in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

The regional line was already down to 290 flights per day, reports the Associated Press, as its flights, fleet and workforce have all been whittled down by Delta in the last seven years. It was costing Delta too much money to maintain the smaller, less fuel-efficient jets, says the company.

“We just really couldn’t get the cost structure to where we wanted to get it,” said Don Bornhorst, senior vice president of Delta Connection and a former Comair president. “It ultimately was a cost issue; it wasn’t a quality issue with Comair. They’re a good airline, great employees, very innovative … we just could not solve the cost issues.”

Delta has stopped flying 16 of its remaining 50-seat Comair jets and will be leasing the other 28 out to other operators. All employees have received 60-day termination notices, with a few employees staying on after the Sept. 29 shutdown to tie up loose ends.

Comair has hubs at New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports as well as Cincinnati, and served mainly those Midwestern and East Coast areas.

Delta to shut down regional carrier Comair [Associated Press]

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