Delta to scale back flights

Delta Air Lines Inc. plans to scale back the amount of flying it planned to do this year because of the crisis in Japan and rising fuel costs.

The No. 2 U.S. airline said Tuesday that 2011 revenue will be reduced by $250 million to $400 million due to the situation in Japan.

For Delta, American, United and Continental, the disruption to their Japan service comes as they're already making changes in the face of sharply higher fuel costs. U.S. airlines have implemented eight across-the-board fare increases so far this year; Delta led four of those. Fuel costs have tracked a 38 percent increase in the price of oil since Labor Day.

This is the second time this year that Delta has cut back plans for the amount of flying it will do. United Continental Holdings Inc., the parent of United and Continental, has also scaled back its plans.

Delta president Ed Bastian, speaking at the JPMorgan Aviation, Transportation and Defense conference in Manhattan, said fare increases alone won't be enough to cover rising costs. The airline also needs to save money through service reductions and taking old, gas-guzzling planes out of the fleet.

Overall flying in the second half of the year will drop 4 percentage points, with the biggest cuts on routes to the Pacific. Flights to that region will grow just 5 percent, down from a planned 13 percent increase.

Delta plans to reduce Japan flying by about 15 to 20 percent through May because of slower demand as the country recovers from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. That includes suspension of service to Tokyo. But the airline assured it would restore service there as demand picks up again, likely by this summer.

The airline will also slash transatlantic flights by about 4 percent, compared with a 1 percent previously planned decrease. Flights to Europe are the only spot in Delta's network where fare increases haven't caught up with the increase in fuel prices, Bastian said. He didn't specify where the airline planned to reduce flights, but said they would likely be the routes that doubled up with Delta's partners Alitalia, KLM and Air France.

In the U.S., Delta now expects to reduce flying by about 3 percent. Delta's previous forecast was for a 2 percent increase. The biggest hit to domestic service will come in Memphis, Tennessee, where Delta plans to cut flying by 25 percent.

The airline also said it will retire 120 of its least-efficient aircraft over the next year to 18 months, mostly smaller planes.