Editorial: Delta’s Indy-to-Paris flight is still worth fighting for

One casualty of the coronavirus pandemic that could get lost as so many Hoosiers fight for their lives and livelihoods is the nonstop Delta Airlines flight between Indianapolis and Paris. Delta announced at the end of last month that it was suspending the flight until next year at the earliest.

Delta launched its nonstop service between here and Paris in May 2018 to much fanfare. It was a major milestone in a years-long, hard-fought battle by state economic development officials to open Indiana’s economy to the world. Of course, international trade has long been a staple of the state’s economy, but scoring the state’s first nonstop route to Europe was a major convenience for anyone conducting business abroad.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and his team convinced Delta to offer the flight, not by promising to compensate the airline for any shortfalls in projected passenger counts but by paying Delta a per-passenger bonus up to a certain annual bonus cap. It took the airline three quarters of the year to earn the full $3.5 million first-year bonus, and the flight was so popular it grew from five days a week to six last September.

The flight wasn’t just good for traveling to Paris. It also gave passengers one-stop access to hundreds of other international destinations. For those who used the flight as a connector, the top destinations were Rome, Florence and the Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Reaching those Indian cities, which, like Indianapolis, are major pharmaceutical and tech centers, had always meant arduous, multi-stop trips. The Paris flight was a major improvement and a difference-maker in building our economy.

The flight’s economic impact wasn’t limited to the companies that took advantage of it. The Indy-Paris route was good for the state and local economies and the airport itself, because it drew people from all corners of Indiana and neighboring states who opted for a nonstop flight from our easy-to-navigate airport and left money in their wake.

That all changed beginning in March, when airport traffic fell off a cliff here and everywhere because of the pandemic. The Indianapolis Airport Authority announced that, at the depth of the crisis, it was operating at only 5% of its normal activity level, a frightful decline that should begin to reverse itself as governments around the world loosen restrictions on travel, passengers become comfortable returning to the skies, and airlines slowly recover. Still, airport officials said it might be three years before passenger traffic at Indianapolis International returns to pre-pandemic levels.

We look forward to that day, whenever it comes. But the journey back won’t be complete—and the city and state won’t be made whole—without the return of nonstop service overseas.

Some fear Delta will never resume the Indy-to-Paris route. But never is a long, long time. When we emerge from this crisis and airport and government officials get back to playing offense on behalf of our state and local economies, we’re confident this valuable flight—and the important work of building our international connections—will take off again.•

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