Delta Re-Adjusts EAS Tag Flights, Again

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has once again updated its ever-changing flight schedule for some of the small communities it operates to in the Midwestern U.S. While most of the communities do lose their tag flights and go back to their original nonstop flights, some still do retain them but change where the extra stop will occur. A tag flight is when an aircraft makes a stop in the first city and continues to the next.

It would be worth mentioning all of the communities involved in the tag routes are Essential Air Service, or EAS, communities. The airline that operates the flights to them, in this case, SkyWest, receives federal funding to operate twice daily nonstop flights to a hub. It is unclear whether or not this addition of extra stops has affected the amount of money the airline is receiving from the government.

A Delta Connection CRJ-200 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Previously, the tag flights were planned to operate only from September 2022 until January 2023 due to pilot shortages and had hoped to get rid of them by the start of the new year. With these tags flights remaining to some degree, it is evident the pilot shortage hasn’t completely 100% resolved, but the number of communities that are receiving the tag flights has gone down, signaling that the pilot shortage is calming down to some degree.

Previously, 10 of these EAS communities were…