Due to low usage, flights from Pierre to Minneapolis will be ending this summer.
Jon Coleman, senior vice president of corporate strategy for Denver Air Connection, shared the news of the decision Wednesday.
He said despite their efforts, there was usually an average of just 10 passengers on the flights to and from Minneapolis, making it a loss to keep running planes.
“We’re pretty disappointed that Minneapolis is not going to work out," Coleman said. "We gave it our best shot on a collective basis. I think the city pushed hard, we pushed hard. We gave Minneapolis the two best travel days of the week. We built a schedule that we thought would be giving the most opportunities to succeed as we possibly could. There was a tremendous amount of advertising push. We were offering deeply discounted fares, and it just didn’t move people to get on the plane.”
The planes used for Minneapolis travel will be rerouted to Denver. Coleman said this will be especially helpful during hunting season.
Flights to Minneapolis will end June 9th, and travelers will be reimbursed for any cancelled flights.