La Crosse-Detroit flights on Delta ending soon

Regular Delta flights between La Crosse and Detroit will come to an end on Jan. 9, as part of service cutbacks which have occurred in the airline industry in the wake of COVID-19.

The daily Detroit service began in March of 2019. La Crosse airport director Ian Turner told WIZM the service went well for the first year, then the pandemic set in.

“That’s really beneficial to us, to demonstrate that there is a desire and a need here in the La Crosse community and the greater Coulee Region to have additional service to some other destinations other than Minneapolis and Chicago,” Turner said.

Turner believes La Crosse is fortunate, compared to some other cities, where airlines have ended service altogether.

Delta will still offer daily flights connecting La Crosse to Minneapolis and Chicago, and American Airlines continues flights between Chicago O’Hare and La Crosse.

The airport saw 7,703 passengers take scheduled commercial flights through La Crosse in November. That is slightly below October numbers but higher than the volume during the same month of 2019, many weeks before the start of the pandemic.