Known for country music as well as a barbecue and taco-fueled food scene, Austin, Texas, experienced a wave of popularity both as a tourist population and among those who ended up moving there.
According to city statistics, the capital of Texas saw an average of 159 new residents settle in the city for each day between 2023 and 2024, while the wider metropolitan population ballooned from 1.6 to 2.3 million in the decade between 2013 and 2023.
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During that time, airlines such as American Airlines (AAL) , Delta Air Lines (DAL) , Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico (GRPAF) , and Lufthansa (DLAKF) have all redirected significant resources to offer flights to the city from increasingly more cities.
As the hype around Austin started to settle down, however, these new routes did not always end up bringing in the traffic to justify them.
Delta Air Lines latest carrier to pull out of Austin airport, exit another market entirely
All of those airlines ended up eventually cutting flights and significantly downsizing their network to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). In 2024, American Airlines alone canceled 21 routes to the city from different parts of the United States.
The latest airline to cut a flight to Austin is Delta; the Atlanta-based airline will, as first reported by aviation website Simple Flying, suspend its flight between AUS and Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF) in the western part of the state.
Related: Delta to launch more Austin routes while American cuts theirs
Although Delta has simultaneously announced three new routes to Austin from Denver, Columbus, and Kansas City this August, axing the MAF flight means that it will exit the airport located halfway between Midland and Odessa in Texas entirely.
The word “space” is in the name because, in 2014, the FAA authorized the airport to become the site of limited space missions such as satellite launches and certain vehicle tests.
No major launches take off from MAF, and it is used primarily as a regional airport to serve the more rural areas of western Texas and eastern New Mexico.
As many airlines downsized their Austin networks, Delta Air Lines has continued to cement its presence in the city.
Image source: Shutterstock
Had a flight between Midland and Austin booked? Here is how you get that refund
The flight from MAF to Austin launched in April 2024 and had been running three times a day at its peak. It will now operate its final flight on November 8. The Embraer E175 (ERJ) plane it runs on will be redirected to other routes between nearby regional cities.
While Delta has yet to officially confirm or comment on the cancellation spotted in the flight data provided by aviation firm Cirium, the general policy in the event of routes that get canceled as part of a wider network shake-up is for the airline to contact anyone with travel booked beyond the last flight date about a refund.
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Those who booked in a fare class that allows for automatic refunds can also initiate it themselves, while others can either accept a flight credit or an alternative booking or wait for a refund to the original method of payment.
Canceling the flight before being contacted by the airline can make it more difficult to claim a full refund later.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a trip.)
Make a free appointment with TheStreet’s Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel, or email Amy Post at [email protected] or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
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