Rob Bishop: “Delta has an impact in the State of Utah as well. Delta and its feeder services have about 7,000 employees; they fly 350…”

“Delta has an impact in the State of Utah as well. Delta and its feeder services have about 7,000 employees; they fly 350 flights out of Salt Lake City every day; they have added 30 nonstop flights since their recovery process is going through. It is significant not just to the consumers of Utah but the entire Intermountain West and indeed the West, as we now have a situation of competition that exists. US Air had a hub in Las Vegas. It merged with America West with a hub in Phoenix. Delta has a hub in Salt Lake. That has a competitive overlap which gives the consumers of the West a choice in where their air travel goes and the kinds of air fare in a free market environment. The southeast of this Nation has basically the same situation, with a hub already for US Air in Charlotte as well as Delta in Atlanta. Those are very close hubs geographically. It makes no sense, especially in the West, of a company, even though they have said they would, to maintain a hub in Las Vegas and Phoenix and Salt Lake at the same time. Business sense would say something would have to close. And if that happens, the net result is that there are fewer air travel opportunities and less competition for consumers in our area of the Nation.”