Delta stops West Coast flights at Logan

As fuel prices soar, carriers are dropping costly nonstop routes

Delta Air Lines Inc. yesterday said it will stop offering its daily flight between Boston and Los Angeles on Aug. 19 as record-high fuel prices force carriers to reexamine the viability of gas-guzzling nonstop transcontinental routes.

The cancellation comes a month after JetBlue Airways Corp. axed its plan to launch a daily flight on the same route starting May 21. And last week, American Airlines Inc. said it would discontinue its daily flight between Boston and San Diego as of Sept. 3.

As a result, travelers will have to take connecting flights or scrounge for fewer seats on airlines that are still flying the routes nonstop. Trips are likely to be more inconvenient due to stopovers or more expensive due to a lower supply of seats - maybe even both.

With fewer nonstop transcontinental flights, "capacity is going to go down," said Henry Harteveldt, principal travel analyst for Forrester Research Inc. And as a result, "fares are going to go up."

As they plan to offer fewer domestic flights by year-end to contain rising fuel costs, carriers are more likely to trim nonstop transcontinental service than short-haul flights or cross-country flights connecting through hubs. That's because long-haul flights burn more fuel than short hops and competition keeps airlines from pricing tickets much higher on such transcontinental routes. Additionally, the long-distance nonstop flights lack layovers that give airlines a second chance at filling empty seats and squeezing every last dollar of revenue out of a flight.

Nonstop service to eight West Coast cities is available from Logan.

"Longer flights are more expensive to operate," Harteveldt said. As a result, airlines need to stick with their most profitable routes rather than operate more flights a day or serve more destinations than competitors simply for bragging rights.

Delta's move means flying on the carrier between Boston and Los Angeles - or any other city on the West Coast - will now require a layover in Atlanta, New York, Salt Lake City, or Cincinnati, said airline spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott.

"During a time in which we are dealing with record fuel prices, Delta has opted to streamline its network by reducing marginal routes, allowing us to better use our resources and maintain profitability," she said. After its cut, American Airlines will offer six daily nonstop transcontinental flights out of Boston - two to San Francisco and four to Los Angeles International Airport. American's Boston-to-San Diego passengers will now have to connect through Chicago or Dallas and pay about 5 percent more. The Boston-San Diego flight is the only nonstop transcontinental service American has canceled as it begins reducing the number of seats it flies on domestic routes by 11 percent compared with the prior year.

"When you're a network carrier, you want to have flights that feed your longer haul routes," said spokesman Ned Raynolds. "US transcontinental flights, however, are one of the mainstays of our domestic system. American Airlines would think real hard before reducing any of those flights."

Because Boston's airport isn't a hub for any airline, it may be more vulnerable to service cuts as carriers focus on funneling passengers through a few airports. But Boston, which attracts throngs of college students, tourists, convention attendees, and businesspeople, will probably be better off than other cities that have similar kinds of flights.

"One of the things that works in Boston's favor is it has a strong mix of high tech and financial services businesses," Harteveldt said. "As a result, you tend to get people who are flying who - while not completely insensitive to price - are probably less price sensitive."

Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.