Everyone keeps saying this. Nobody in the DTW metro is driving to ORD to take a flight, they will just fly on delta. They might as well be 1000 miles apart as far as passengers are concerned.

As for revenue:

"The nine county area designated by the OMB as the Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor Combined Statistical Area (CSA) includes the Detroit–Warren–Dearborn MSA and the three additional counties of Genesee, Monroe, and Washtenaw (which include the metropolitan areas of Flint, Monroe, and Ann Arbor, respectively). It had a population of 5,318,744 as of the 2010 census, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, covering an area of 5,814 square miles"

B6+NK would have over half the gates in the north terminal and a brand new maintenance hanger in a 130 gate delta base.

Getting rid of DTW is as short sighted as getting rid of ORD if your goal to to compete with legacies and I dont think anybody at NK understood why they were shrinking them other than some half brained plan to put 50% of our operation in florida. Just one big storm away from disaster.

P.S. Im rooting for B6. Always liked you guys and the jetblue product. If they had a base where I live I would have applied there first.