Delta to select out non-hub routes

ATLANTA, July 15 (UPI) -- Delta Air Lines' strategy to cut flights focuses on routes that don't connect with its main U.S. hubs, a company spokesman said.

"Regional nonstop flights that bypass hubs are the ones that in this fuel environment are not economical," Delta spokesman Kent Landers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Smaller cities and recreational destinations, such as Orlando, Fla., are more likely to see reduced routes, the newspaper reported.

The goal is to achieve a cut in domestic flight capacity by 13 percent, the report said.

International flights aren't immune to the reductions. Delta plans to eliminate an Atlanta-to-Leon, Mexico, route in August and an Atlanta-to-Ottawa route in September, the report said.

The move includes fleet reductions. Delta said it would cull up as many as 90 planes by the end of the year.